


Contact

by Natizilda



Category: Sonic the Hedgehog (Video Games), Sonic the Hedgehog - All Media Types
Genre: 80's movie but it's written, Adventure, Aliens, Bittersweet, Childhood, Gen, Journey, Memories, Music, Sci-Fi, Stars, kid's adventures
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-06
Updated: 2018-03-06
Packaged: 2019-03-28 00:17:23
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 16
Words: 27,722
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13892196
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Natizilda/pseuds/Natizilda
Summary: During a meteor shower, two mobian kids witness a huge asteroid fall right on the cornfield beyond the hills. One of them, a bright young engineer, is eager to investigate what it is.





	1. The Arrival

**Author's Note:**

> So! This one has been in my head for a while too, and I think it's a nice story with themes that I love to write about - childhood and 80's adventures, hahahaha! It's an innocent story about growing up, family, memories and goodbyes, and I hope you like it!
> 
> Same rules as before: no ships, no drama, just a nice innocent adventure with the characters that we know and love.
> 
> There are some things I want to say about it before we start:
> 
> 1\. This story is a crossover, but I didn't tag the other franchise because I want it to be a small surprise. I'm certain it fits the universe really well, and it's really nostalgic and cute. See it like a little homage <3\. It's revealed really early in the story anyway, so if it doesn't cut for you, that's okay, and you won't need to read through it all!
> 
> 2\. This story happens 6 months after my other Sonic fic, Bonfire. It's a stand alone story (you don't need to read Bonfire to understand this one), but some events are mentioned here. I'll be explaining those connections in the author's notes, but if you have any doubts and don't want to read the other one, don't be afraid to ask in the comments! Of course you can read that one too - it's another nice adventure with cute and fun moments, maybe you'll like it!
> 
> Good luck, and have fun!

_Boy, you are in a hurry_

_If you were lookin' at what I'm lookin' at_

_You'd be in a hurry too_

 

_Eden Project - Fumes_

 

“Can I make a wish?”

“A wish?”

“Yes! Have you never done it?

“No…”

“If you spot a shooting star, you can make a wish, and it’ll come true!”

“This doesn’t exist, Cream.”

He regretted saying that immediately. The bunny stared at him, _horrified_ , and gasped loudly, her squeaky voice echoing through the observatory.

“You have to believe it, Tails! Thinking like this, none of your dreams will come true!”

“Ah...Right! What I meant was…” He stuttered, trying to fix his mistake. “It doesn’t exist _here_ , because it’s a meteor shower. Meteors are rocks, not stars. Rocks don’t turn dreams into reality, do they?”

“Oh…” She bowed her head, pouting. “So… Aren’t we going to see any shooting star, then?”

“Well… Maybe we will! We’ll spend the whole night looking at the stars… Maybe we’ll get lucky!”

She smiled and hopped in excitement beside the enormous telescope that the boy was adjusting.

“Yaaaaaaay, cool! I promise I’ll stay awake!”

 _Yeah, right_ , he thought, turning his attention to the huge object. Cream overheard him mentioning the meteor shower in the morning, and just _begged_ for her mother to let her accompany Tails in his all-nighter at the observatory. He wasn’t too fond of the idea; the kid just wanted to observe the phenomenon and take notes in peace. But Cream was polite, calm and seemed too excited with the idea of seeing a meteor shower for the first time. Vanilla approved the plan - she trusted Tails and believed he was mature enough to keep an eye on her daughter, even though both had almost the same age. All this situation left Tails with no escape - so there he was, playing the baby sitter role.

But it was fine. Cream wouldn’t bear staying awake the whole night. Soon the fox would have all the peace he so much cherished; with her snoozing in a sleeping bag at one corner and Tails occupied with the telescope.

The equipment was pointing to the right direction; Tails had cleaned its lens and gotten rid of the dust. He had his notebook, pens, a thermos filled with coffee (that he strategically hid from Cream), a bag full of snacks and a whole night ahead. Everything was perfect.

It was almost midnight when the meteors showed up.

“Look! Something’s shining in the sky!” Cream pointed up, looking at the big window.

Tails dropped the soda bottle he was unsuccessfully trying to open, ran to the telescope in the middle of the round room and looked at the visor. Certainly, there was a bunch of light beams cruising through the sky. He stood in silence, admiring it for a while, until he felt a light pull on the tip of his glove. Taking his eyes from the telescope, he saw himself face to face with the girl’s huge eyes.

“Can I see, Tails? Please?” She asked him, adorably.

“Of course!” Tails got down from the chair and helped her sit in his place. Then, he adjusted the lens’ height so she could see the meteors too.

“Ohhhh, it’s so beautiful!” Her sweet voice echoed again through the room. “So bright!”

“It is…” Tails took the chance to take some notes about the meteor shower. Leaning on the huge window’s bulwark, the notebook and a pen on his hands, the boy wrote down some thoughts, peeking at the sky from time to time.

“This one is brighter than the others!”

“It must be a a little bigger.” He explained, not raising his head this time. “It makes more friction upon entering the atmosphere, and burns more…”

“It’s going for the cornfield!”

Tails lifted his head, confused - Was the rain _that_ close to them?

He jumped, startled, upon finally seeing what Cream was talking about.

It wasn’t a little bigger than the others - it was _gigantic_. And it shone like a lighthouse.

“Cream, excuse me please!” He ran back to the telescope. She complied almost immediately, jumping to the floor as he approached her. The noise woke the girl’s chao, who was sleeping between the pile of cushions they brought to  the “camping”.

“Chao!”

“Sorry, Cheese! _Ouch!_ ” In his haste to to look through the telescope’s lens, Tails accidentaly poked an eye on the thing. Tearing up in pain, he had trouble adjusting his sight to look at the bright asteroid; at last, he could only see a flash and a cloud of dust when the object finally landed in the cornfield, making a huge blast upon impact.

Tails took a while between rubbing his sore eye and moving the telescope to see something beyond the hill. But it was no use.

“What was that?” He thought out loud, lifting his head and looking at the window.

“A shooting star! I knew I’d see one! Make a wish, Tails!” The young rabbit hugged her Chao strongly and closed her eyes, putting her small feet close to each other. Tails didn’t answer immediately. He walked to the pane, looking at the cornfield. He couldn’t tell if the soft glow beyond the hill truly existed, or if it was his imagination hoping they’d found something new…

“I have to go there.” He finally said, slamming his fist on his other hand.

“To the cornfield? Now? But it’s already past midnight!”

The boy stopped in the middle of his way to get the backpack at the corner of the room and turned back at her.

“It’s important! I need to check what was that thing!”

“But mommy told me to stay with you!”

Tails blinked, still staring at her, the bag hanging from one of his arms.

_That’s true. I’m responsible for her._

He took Cream by the hand.

“Then you’re coming with me.”

She had to run to keep up with him as they went down the stairs, such was Tails’s rush. Cheese went right behind them, floating.

“I don’t think this is what mommy meant, Tails!”

“It’s just a quick look, Cream! I won’t let anything happen to you! I promise.”

“But…”

They were already outside the observatory, running towards the Tornado.

“Tails, we shouldn’t…”

“It’s an adventure, Cream!” He turned to her, impatient. “You always said that you wanted to live an adventure with us, right? I’m taking you to one!”

She didn’t answer, nor moved, but merely stared at him, her hands and and feet close to each other, frowning at Tails. He sighed.

“Alright, alright.” He dropped his backpack on the floor, beside the biplane. “If you don’t want to see the shooting star, then we won’t go. We can get back to the observatory. Is that ok to you?”

He said the magic words.

“Do you… Do you think it’s really a shooting star?”

He felt like garbage.

“Yes. I’m sure.”

Her eyes lit up, and she opened a huge smile.

Tails wished he could kick himself.

“Come on! I want to meet the star!” She took the lead this time, pulling his hand towards the Tornado. “C’mon, Tails, before they come back home!”

“Hey, wait!” He took the back from the floor and went after her. The boy helped her get on the plane, put a helmet on her head, tightened her seatbelt and then jumped to the pilot’s seat, putting his own glasses and aviator’s hat.

“Everything alright back there, Cream?”

“Yes!”

“What about Cheese? Is he safe too?”

“He’s with me!”

“Chao!”

“Great! Hold on!”

He turned the plane on and accelerated to take off. Quickly, the three of them gained the skies, flying through the night.


	2. The Golden Bell

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The song of this chapter is what inspired me to write this whole fic.

_"It is a bright object and it's obviously rotating because it's flashing. It's way out in the distance, certainly rotating in a very rhythmic fashion because the flashes come around almost on time. (...) I don't know whether that does you any good, but there's something out there."_

 

_Daft Punk - Contact_

 

It wasn’t a star, of course.

That was impossible. Stars were huge, massive bodies of energy. Extremely radioactive fire balls, thousands of times bigger than their planet. If a star fell on Mobius… Well, it’d be the opposite; Mobius would fall on the star instead. And everyone would be incinerated long, long before it even got close to landing.

Tails was being totally unfair on that discussion, specially because he knew Cream was right. He promised to take care of her. Piloting a biplane in the middle of a new moon night, right after witnessing the landing of an asteroid in the middle of a cornfield, _didn’t_ count as “taking care of Cream”.

But he _had_ to know. He had to see. That wasn’t normal.

It wasn’t hard to find the asteroid’s landing point; its impact had formed a crater right in the middle of the cornfield. Tails lowered the plane slowly in a spiral around the newly formed valley, finally landing precisely at the slope’s edge. He helped Cream get down from the plane and gave her a small lantern. A big yellow one was already in his hands.

“Stay close to me.”

“Ok!”

They slided carefully towards the center of the crater, Tails in the lead, trying not to slip and fall down. Upon getting close to the asteroid, the boy noticed that it pulsed, emitting a gentle yellow light in a steady rhythm. Tails stopped about nine feet away from the thing, putting his hand in front of the little girl to prevent her from advancing.

“What is it?” She asked, with a low and squeaky voice.

“I don’t know…” Tails took the bag from his back and searched for its content, until he found his old yellow tablet. He turned it on and typed some commands, trying to scan the unkown mass to identify it.

The device bipped, showing extremely high energy levels, but couldn't determine what _type_ of energy it was.

"Weird. There's no known frequency."

"Not even Chaos?" The little girl whispered, standing on her toes to see the tablet's screen in Tails' hands.

"Not Chaos, not standard radiation… It's completely..."

 _Alien_. He gulped.

"Cream, we better get out of here."

The bunny ignored him, her eyes set on the asteroid. Suddenly, she went right below his extended arm and slowly approached the mass, mesmerized.

"Cream!" Tails went after her, standing right in her path, his arms wide open. "It's dangerous! Let's leave!"

"Aren't you hearing it?"

"Hearing what?"

"It's talking. Pay attention."

Tails kept quiet for a second, trying to understand. He could hear a gentle jingle coming from the asteroid, but that was it.

"I can't hear anything. C'mon, let's get out of here..."

A strong light reflected on the girls eyes while he stared at her. Confused, Tails turned around.

The asteroid glowed sharply. The light got stronger, and stronger…

Then, it disappeared.

Tails realized what was going to happen a second before; not thinking twice, he jumped towards Cream, tossing her to the floor and trying to protect her from the explosion of light that occured right after.

He expected a "boom", but what came out of it sounded more like a single giant bell's ring - Tails felt his lids surprisingly hot, his vision becoming crimson in his closed eyes, not daring to open them.

"Cream, don't look at the light!" He screamed, trying to overcome the constant ring.

"You too, Cheese!" Tails heard the girl's muffled voice below him.

The light disappeared as fast as it came. The bright red in Tails' lids gave place to a greenish stain, momentarily obstructing his vision. Slowly, he opened his eyes.

The asteroid had grown larger - no, it stood up! - in front of the kids, dark, gigantic, rising at least nine feet upon the three adventurers. It had long arms and short skinny legs, as dark as the rest of its body. Tails got up, putting Cream on her feet, and moved away slowly, taking the girl with him.

That's when the creature turned around, revealing it's massive yellow body with five ends and huge, bright eyes. Tails tighened his grip on Cream's elbows and kept moving away, feeling his legs start to tremble.

"It's alright, let's just leave reeeeaaaally slowly..."

"The star!" Cream unleashed herself from her friend and ran towards the alien, catching Tails offguard.

"Cream, no!" Tails yelled and tried to stop her, but his legs trembled so much that he fell face first on the floor. Spitting out dirt and coughing, the boy raised his head full of red dust. Cream was offering her hand to the newcomer.

"My name is Cream! I can help you!"

The "star" didn't respond. They just looked at the girl. Then, smiling, gave her their hand, accepting her gesture. The alien was so big that Cream could only grip one of their huge fingers. Tails got up slowly, observing the interaction between the two.

"Are you a shooting star?" He heard Cream ask.

The star seemed to understand, but couldn't speak their language - or maybe they were just mute - so just nodded with their head, shaking their whole body with the motion. Cream gasped, blissful, pressing the newcomer's finger.

"Tails! Tails, you were right! It's a star indeed!"

The boy's head spinned. Stars were colossal bodies of fuel and energy. They were bodies made of heat and fire, too big to even think about the possibility of arriving on Mobius.

And Cream was speaking to one.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JI5noh4OyXc


	3. Saudade

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> "Saudade" is a portuguese word that represents a deep emotional state of nostalgic or profound melancholic longing for an absent something or someone that one loves. I miss this word a lot when I translate my stories - but it was harder with this one.

The star looked to the sky, and then back at the kids. They pointed to its vastness and then opened their mouth to speak.

A second bell pulsed from their bright aura, casting a wind blow on the kids. It was a strange, comforting sound, and it seemed like that was how the alien communicated. But Tails couldn't understand.

Cream, however, could.

"You came from there? From the space?"

The star nodded again.

"And why did you come here?" Tails asked, hesitantly. The star made the same ringing sound again - this time, Tails felt urgency and anxiety.

"Cream, did you understand…?"

The girl turned to him, a sad expression on her face. But before she could answer, the air was filled with the sound of helicopter propellers.

"What's that sound?" Cream asked, flinching with the noise, squeezing her ears.

"Cream, let's go!"

"But the star..."

Tails took her by the hand, grabbed his backpack and tablet and ran back to the biplane. Rotating his two tails and taking her by the armpits, he flew up the slope.

Upon arriving at the Tornado, Tails saw a light reflecting on its red painting and turned on his heels, confused.

The alien had followed them.

"No, I can't take you with me!" He could see the beams of light from the helicopters looking for them, getting dangerously close.

"But Tails, they need help!"

"Help for what?!" He asked, absent-minded, while putting the girl back on the co-pilot's seat and shoving the helmet on her head. As Cream tried adjusting the helmet, grumbling in confusion, he turned the engines on and accelerated, trying to take flight as soon as possible. He had to keep the plane low, with no lights, avoiding the spotlights from the investigation crew…

That’s when Tails noticed a beam of light cruising right below them.

The star sparkled at the same speed as the plane, following them, leaving a trail of light behind.

"Shoot! It's following us!"

The searching helicopters immediately turned to their direction, attracted by the light. Thinking fast, Tails changed the biplane's course to fly over the forest close to the cornfield. That way, even if the alien kept following then, with some luck the treetops would hide the group from the searching team.

The plane turned, but the star kept going straight. Apparently, sparkling aliens couldn't change directions as easily.

 _I hope I misled them_ , Tails thought, anxiously. He kept flying down, far from the helicopters, and slowly felt his heartbeat calm down a little. Soon, they were able to see the dark and tall sillouette of the observatory.

Tails landed behind the tower to hide Tornado, in case one of the helicopters came from the cornfield to search for them. He was almost sure no one had followed them, but it was better not to risk it.

"I'm sorry, Cream" He said, helping the little girl get down from the plane. "I know you really wanted to help, but the helicopters..."

"No problem! He followed us."

And then pointed to something behind Tails. He turned around.

There was the star, shining as always, smiling at them. Tails felt his blood freeze. The alien made one more of those loud rings made of light and the boy felt and inexplicable happiness course through his heart. He was dying of fear from the government agents after them. Why did he feel so blissful all of a sudden?

"He said that he loved to play, and it's your turn to catch him." Cream happily translated, like she'd been doing that for years.

"I wasn't… Shhhh!" Tails shook his head and hands urgently when a second wave of light and sound hit him. The otherworldly happiness made its way again, but he ignored it. "Keep quiet! Inside, all of you!"

He pushed Cream and the star to the observatory, locking the door behind him. They went up the spiral staircase, with Cheese gently floating behind them, and entered the telescope room, right on top of the tower. Tails quickly lowered the blinds, then peeked through them, fearing they had been followed by something else other than a 9 feet tall alien.

"I think we're safe..." He finally faced the star, frowning. "Why did you follow us, anyway? We could've gotten in trouble for that!"

"Tails!" Cream gasped, horrified. The star answered with a new chime. Tails felt his face hot with embarrassement, even though that was far from what he was really feeling at the moment. "You hurt Ristar's feelings! Why are you being so rude?"

"Ristar?"

"Yes. It's his name."

"How do you know that?"

"He told me."

Tails stared at her, perplexed.

"Cream, how can you comprehend what he says? For me it's just bell rings."

"I don't know. I feel what he says. Then I understand."

Tails scratched his chin, thougthful. It was true that he felt a deep emotion everytime Ristar (which apparently was his name) tried to communicate with the sound and aura of the light he emanated. If what Cream said was true (and it certainly was - Cream didn't lie), then Ristar spoke through the emotions he was feeling at the moment, and Cream, being younger and more innocent than Tails, was probably more sensible and empathetic than him. That explained how she was so good with the Chao, too.

"Ok. I'll need your help to understand what he's saying, then, is that alright?"

"I already told you! He needs our help!"

"Oh God, but help for _what_?"

Before she could answer, Ristar frowned and jingled fiercely, and for a few seconds, the whole world felt silent - not even the leaves rustled with the wind.

The feeling was unique, hurtful, and really strong. A heavy weight on their chests.

"He..." Cream wiped a single tear that escaped her eye. "He's looking for his dad. Been travelling from galaxy to galaxy looking for him. For many… Many years."

Tails looked at the newcomer, the feeling still heavy on his chest. He remembered all the people that haven't been around for a while. Knuckles, that almost never left the island… Silver, that went back to his own time… The Chaotix… He couldn't even imagine what would it be to spend years looking for someone as close as a father… Or a brother.

"Is your father a star like you?"

Ristar nodded, and opened his arms in a broad gesture.

"But a lot bigger, right?"

He nodded again, smiling.

"Hmmm, like our Sun?"

He opened his arms even more.

_Way bigger._

"Do you know if we can find him, Tails?"

"I… I dunno. We can't exactly go to space with him to look for a star, but..."

He pulled his backpack again and hooked his tablet one more time, examining the energy analysis they had done before. It was really a unique type of energy.

"His energy has a really, really different frequency. Maybe I can access a satellite and search for a similar one in space, define some coordinates. Or maybe I can send a signal and wait for a response. Then, I can point you to the right direction. But it'll take a while. Can you wait a few days?"

The star clapped and nodded one more time, jingling softly. Tails felt his excitement bristle the fur on his nape.

"He's thanking you!" Shouted Cream, hopping in place, unable to stay still. She took her new friend by the hand and pulled him to the mountain of pillows, asking him to sit down with her.

 

Both spent a long while talking to each other - Ristar learned how to jingle in a lower volume - while Tails looked through the telescope, checked his tablet and scribbled in his notebook. As time passed, he noticed that the conversation behind him got quieter and quieter, until the boy saw himself in a totally silent room. He peeked towards them and realized that both had fallen asleep, Cream still hugging Cheese, almost disappearing in the middle of the pillows.

He observed the trio for a while, thinking…

_I'm the responsible one here._

_I have to solve this by myself._

_Vanilla trusted me to keep an eye at Cream, and now an alien trusts me to help him find his father. I can't fail._

He turned his head back to the blinds that blocked his sight of the windows. Apparently, none of the helicopters had noticed Tornado's presence at Ristar's landing site, so they hadn't been followed at all. Luckily, he'd installed a quieter engine on the new plane; the one that exploded in Eggman's base six months ago was far louder. Internally, he thanked Sonic for this small setback.

Should he ask for his help?

He knew that Cream couldn't tell her mother what happened, no way: she'd probably be extremely worried, and disappointed in Tails… And could even call the autorithies to take care of Ristar. He promised to help the alien too, and couldn't let that happen. He didn't feel inclined to ask most of his friends either, mostly to protect them. But Sonic… Sonic would know what to do, and he'd be the first to agree to help Ristar on his mission. Maybe Tails should contact him indeed…

With his hand right over the communicator (that both always kept around when they were separated), he stopped, changing his mind. Tails had put Cream in this mess due to his own curiosity, stubborness… and childishness. He couldn't afford to be a kid forever, and running back to his brother at the first problem wasn't the way to deal with his own mistakes. Tails had to solve that mess by himself. It was his responsibility, after all.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hate that this song became a meme hahaha https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3mUfOs-CTCw


	4. Sound From the Heart

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Trivia: the movie "August Rush" has a different name in Brazil - it's called "Sound from the Heart". The movie is about a kid who finds his parents by using music. I think it's pretty relatable :D

"I can't believe you're showing him the _junkyard_ , Tails!"

"Cream, I need to build the antennas! We need materials for that!"

"But the junkyard is ugly!"

Ristar jingled behind her. Tails felt strangely calm. The little girl looked up, to her new friend's face, her ears flopping behind her.

"But… But… I want you to see the pretty things in this world."

"Don't worry, Cream" Tails assured her, floating over the yard's metal grid to reach the other side. "We're going to Angel Island with him, and then we'll visit Station Square too… He'll see a lot of nice stuff."

Tails had finally made a plan of action for them: he'd build the antennas and record a message from Ristar, streaming its content to the vastness of the universe. He didn't know how much he'd be able to build, but the boy had three main places to root them in mind.

The first antenna would be assembled at the top of the observatory; it was the most accessible place for them, since Ristar was temporarily living there. That way, Tails could check if the device was in order and make all adjustments necessary, before building the others. The two remaining places were Angel Island and some skyscraper in Station Square - the tallest places they could reach, making sure the signal went farther and covered a lot of ground. How far they'd reach, Tail's couldn't know. But they had to try.

So there were them, entering an old, abandoned junkyard in a gray, cloudy day. Tails wanted to go alone, but Cream wanted to go too, and the boy couldn't leave Ristar by himself. So there went the three kids (or four, if you count Cheese).

"Ok, here's the plan" He turned to his companions when both easily jumped the grid after him. "We need to be quiet, ok? As far as I know, this junkyard is old and abandoned, but I don't know if there's any stray dogs sleeping or anything like that around here. Don't get too far, and stay where I can see you."

"You speak like mom." The girl mumbled, pouting.

He frowned and didn't answer.

The boy walked through piles of rubbish, looking for something that caught his attention. Tails was used to collecting materials in junkyards to build his inventions, and knew exactly what to look for with only his eyes. He took some gears, bits and iron springs, an old and rusted megaphone and a sound system with no carcass. In another corner, he found a wheelbarrow that still worked: putting everything he found inside it, Tails pushed it until he got to a smashed car without wheels, but painted in a bright blue color - that way, he'd find his stuff more easily when floating through the air. The boy flew towards a green refrigerator on top of a trash pile and admired the landscape they were in.

For an abandoned property, it was a wide junkyard, full of material for Tails to look through. He was almost sure the people who lived nearby still used the place to get rid of unwanted stuff, although they had the decency of not adding perishable trash too - if that was the case, the smell would be unbearable, since it was an area exposed to any climate change. A little ahead, he could see Ristar's bright light, sitting on the floor beside an old jukebox, with Cream apparently explaining to him what it was.

The light reflected on something shiny, momentarily blinding the young fox. With squinted eyes, he noticed the object had an intense shade of red, contrasting to the rest of rubbish that had faded colors or no paint at all. Tails slided down the debris, landing on the floor, and ran towards the object, with the map of the old junk yard clear in his head. He gasped upon seeing what it was.

It was a satellite, painted in a bright, blood-red paint. Branded with the good and old moustachy logo of Eggman.

"But what is this doing here?" Tails asked to himself, trying to pull it outside the pile. The young boy wasn't strong enough for that, though; and to make things worse, the mountain of debris moved dangerously over him everytime he tried. Tails stop pulling, panting a little.

"Tails, do you need help?" He heard Cream's delicate voice behind him and turned around. She was with Ristar, who certainly would cast a huge shadow on them if his body didn’t glow constantly.

"Maybe… Ristar, can you take this out of the pile for me?" He managed to understand Tails before the kid could even finish the sentence: he immediately took the satellite with both hands (the enormous object looked like a toy on his huge palms) and pulled. Tails took Cream out of the way right on time, as the movement created an avalanche of rubbish around the alien's feet. Ristar took his arms out of the trash pile, showing the shining satellite in his hands.

"Nice! I think we can use that for sure."

"But..." Cream had recognized the white logo plastered on top of the red object. "It's Eggman's. Is it safe?"

"It's just a satellite. It must have fallen down when we deactivated one of his bases or something, and someone left it here. If there's a technology that can stream information towards a whole universe, it's his. I mean, this thing fell from the stratosphere and didn't even get a scratch!"

Tails felt kinda bad for admiring the equipment built by his greatest enemy, but couldn't help himself: his engineer side spoke loudly. Besides, he intended to use that for a good cause, right?

"Ok..." Cream still gave weird looks to the device, but didn't object further.

After putting the satellite along with the rest of the stuff collected, Tails took a last look, floating around the junkyard, making sure that he didn't miss anything. He managed to find two more sound systems and antennas that he could use to amplify the transmission. When they were almost leaving, Ristar stared at the jukebox, leaving out a sad jingle.

"He wanted to see the machine working… He wants to hear the music we listen to." Cream explained, her ears falling flatter than the usual. "I do, too. Mom said that those boxes were everywhere when she was younger."

Tails chewed the insides of his cheek, looking at the jukebox, then smiled.

"It looks almost new. I think I can fix it."

The little girl's eyes beamed.

"Really?"

"Of course. But I'll need some help carrying all of this stuff!"

Ristar smiled.

 

\----------------------------------

 

As predicted, the jukebox was an easy fix, which made Cream, Cheese and Ristar really happy. The light around the machine's body couldn't glimmer, since there were only burnout bulbs, but it didn't matter; after grabbing some of Sonic's old vinyls full of 80's songs on their home's basement, Tails got the group's soundtrack for the rest of the afternoon, while working on a way of transmitting Ristar's signal through the galaxies.

The problem was Tails didn't want to send a signal that ended up with Ristar's father right on top of Mobius - if stars were really the aliens, they could incinerate the entire planet only with their presence. So, the message had to be clear.

He had also found a sound recorded between Sonic's old stuff - his friend loved music a lot, and had all sorts of recording material, along with a good collection of musical instruments. After setting up the microphone in a way that covered Ristar's height, Tails wrote a message for the transmission.

"Right, I think I made a message that's urgent enough, but also makes it clear that we need your father's location, instead of calling him to our solar system. Cream, can you read it for him, please?

The girl took the piece of paper from his hands and looked carefully at it, with Cheese flapping their tiny wings close to her cheeks. She read the message in silence, then looked back at Tails with a confused look.

"Tails, I don't think this is right..."

"Well, at least try it!"

She sighed, staring back at the paper, still unsure.

"Ok… Pay attention, Ristar!"

The star sparkled gently and in silence, but turned to look at the bunny.

 

_"Dad, I'm safe. I've been travelling for countless galaxies looking for you, and ended up finding a planet called Mobius. I've been helped by new friends, and right now I'm streaming this message to know where you are. You don't need to come after me: send me your position and I'll come to you._

 

_Best Regards,_

_Ristar."_

The group remained silent. Ristar didn't ring a bell.

"Ah… So?" Tails insisted. "What do you think?"

Cream and the star looked at each other. Ristar seemed more confused than ever.

"Tails… Ristar's language doesn't work that way." She explained quietly. The girl seemed almost sorry for him.

"I know" He answered defensevely. "I still couldn't find a way to translate what he says like I did with the wisps. But you can do it, can't you?"

"I… I just understand what he says. But he doesn't say anything. He feels! You know? Then I feel it back. You know?"

Tails stared at her.

"No."

She sighed in exasperation.

"You feel it too, don't you? When he feels?"

Tails recalled the golden aura spreading through the cornfield and all the sudden mood changes he experienced everytime Ristar jingled.

"Yeah… But I don't understand it very well. I feel what he feels, but not what he means."

"But _that's_ what he means!" She hopped, gesturing widely. "There's no secret! What he feels is what he wants to tell us. You need to think..." She seemed to have trouble trying to explain it to Tails. "No, feel… Feel like all words are one single thing. What he feels is what he'll say to his father."

"Ahhh..." That worried him. Cream's explanation had confused him even more. If Ristar's language were feelings, and he could only transmit the message that way, how could Tails dose the information? How could he prevent a star ten thousand times bigger than Mobius from appearing right on their galaxy?

Ristar stared intensely at him, and Tails stared back. Could the star feel what he felt the same way the kids did with him? Tails kept the eye contact with him, thinking… No, he couldn't think. He had to _feel_.

Feel the worry for the people that lived on the planet.

Feel the hope of finding his friend's father.

Feel the determination of helping Ristar find the right path.

No words flowing through his mind. No insecurity, or fear.

Ristar smiled at him. Apparently, smiles were the universal language.

A bright and golden aura pulsed from the star and spread through the telescope room. It wasn't the explosion of light, like the first time they met. It was like a leaf falling on a clear lake, creating small, circular waves around it, splattering the water only slightly. Gently, the aura hit the kids. Tails felt everything back, everything that he had felt with an extreme intensity, but he also heard it; it wasn't just a tinkle.

It was music. Reverbering on the tower's walls, a beautiful and loud sound.

He smiled back.

"Thank goodness the recorder was on." Tails commented jokingly.

The trio spent the rest of the day making different recordings, having fun with Sonic's old tape recorder. Soon, Ristar's message was installed on the device that would become the antenna to other worlds. It sounded like the most beautiful music Tails had ever heard, but if someone asked him to replicate it, the boy would be incapable of doing so; partly because he wasn't a very good musician, partly because it was an inexplicable sound. It was a sound that only the heart could possibly understand.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HblExDJ_I-0


	5. Heaven Is Under The Sun

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is the name of a song. I like how it sounds, but the lyrics have absolutely nothing to do with the story. But eh.

Cream went back to her own house at the end of the day. She really wanted to stay at the tower with Ristar, but if she didn't come home, her mother would be extremely worried. Tails insisted, pratically begged her to not tell anything to Vanilla.

"My mom won't tell anybody!"

"I know, I know… But if someone finds out, they'll take Ristar away. Do you want them to take him away?"

"No..." She lowered her head, staring at her own shoes while Tails put her stuff inside the plane.

"Look, I know you don't want to lie to your mother, but you don't have to. Just… Don't talk about him. This is not lying, it's just… You forgot to mention. That's it."

"But I'd never forget a new friend, Tails..."

"Cream, please" He insisted. "It's for his own good! Can you promise me? Pretty please?"

She sighed and slightly rocked her body back and forth, avoiding his eyes. Then, frowned and nodded, finally staring at him.

"Ok! I'll keep my mouth shut." And put one finger in front of her lips, determined.

A little calmer, Tails took her back, not before making sure Ristar didn't leave the tower. He didn't like the idea of leaving him alone, but it was just for a few minutes. Back at the observatory, he started working on the antenna's installation at its roof. There was no need for him to go back home, nor anyone waiting for him; he could only work on their new project and help Ristar find his dad. Tails was used to this kind of loneliness, but it didn't bother him too much; days went by really fast when you had something to do.

Soon, the antenna was on its place. Tails dissected the satellite found in the junkyard and recreated the transmission system, since he'd need one for each transmissor. He'd leave the original one on the last antenna: that way, when all three were finally activated, the young inventor could monitor the satellite's reach and take some notes for the future.

On the next day, while planning the installation of the second antenna, Tails found himself with a new problem: the Tornado.

He intended to install one of the transmissors in Angel Island - probably the highest place Tails knew. Normally, he could get to the island easily with the plane, if not for the fact that the new one wasn't fit for too high altitudes. He had to make some modifications.

“Ahhh, I can’t believe this…” He grumbled, running around the vehicle. According with his own calculations, it would take more days than expected to make the necessary modifications on the plane. He couldn't afford losing that much time.

Ristar was shooting himself around the tower, ricocheting on walls, trees and making angles with the light trails he left behind. The star stopped beside Tails, after hearing him mumbling loudly while scavenging a big wooden box full of scrap metal. He couldn't quite get what the boy was saying, but could surely feel his annoyance.

"...He could've been more careful, of course he could! If the plane hadn't exploded I wouldn't have this problem right now! Now I need to go to Angel Island and I have no clue how to get there. I don't have time to install a new engine on the plane, I mean I don't even have enought stuff to build one..."

The boy turned on his heels and saw himself face to face with the alien, staring at him with his huge and innocent eyes. Tails gestured randomly, as if explaining himself for the frustration.

"I know it wasn't his fault, but… You know?"

Ristar tilted his head, frowning. Tails sighed, shaking his head and waving his hands.

"Ah, nevermind..." And looked up. It was so cloudy that he couldn't even see the island's sillouette in the sky. _Maybe it's not a good day to fly, anyway,_ he though, knowing very well that his plans were probably delayed for at least two weeks.

"Well, Ristar, I hope you're enjoying living in the observatory, becAAAA!"

Tails' voice turned into a squeaky scream when he felt his whole body hang in the air abruptly. Twisting himself to understand what was happening, he saw Ristar right below him, his arms upwards - it was the star who carried him around.

"What're ya doing? Let me go, I need to..."

Tails' yells disappeared when air left his lungs, right when both of them sparkled to the sky. He could hear the deafening sound of the wind blowing on his ears; his skin waved on top of his muscles; they went up and up and up, and Tails wanted to ask him to get back, but his mouth refused to open…

Not that he wasn't used to that speed. But Sonic always warned him before.

And normally, they'd go forwards. Not _upwards_.

Tails wasn't afraid of heights - quite the contrary - but he couldn't keep his eyes open due to the colder and colder air blowing constantly on his lids. And the sole perspective of being in a great height, with no plane below him, having Ristar's arms as his only safety, wasn't very inviting by itself - not even for an experienced pilot like him.

As sudden as it started, though, their trip stopped. Feeling the abrupt change of rhythm, Tails opened his eyelids an inch.

They floated right above the sea of clouds that darkened their afternoon - far, far above. the Sun shone splendorously, reflecting on the cotton shapes with such strength that it blinded Tails almost completely. Above the white, endless sea, casting a huge shadow upon the clouds, laid the island. They were so close the Tails could hear the sound of the countless waterfalls close to the beach.

Tails and Sonic had already visited that island inumerous times, and he always found it an amazing view on the horizon. But standing there, with his new friend, not worrying about piloting the plane, Tails had the opportunity to check each detail, and to marvel with each aspect. The clouds that moved slowly like an ocean below them; the rays of sunlight that warmed his skin through the cold and rarefied air; the palm trees that rustled gently, their bright green leaves contrasting against the blue sky; the sand that had nowhere to go, since there was no sea to receive it, and so just leaked out of the island, its grains spiraling in a gentle flow with the wind.

It was heaven under the sun.

Both landed on the island, feeling the sand's texture below their feet. Ristar immediately started exploring their surroundings, curious about everything the world had to offer him. Tails smiled broadly, happiness flooding his chest. Angel Island brought him great memories. He knew that Knuckles wasn't around - he had united all of the Master Emerald's fragments already, but hasn't come back from the journey yet - and even if he was, Tails didn't intend to alert anybody about his presence, in his efforts to keep Ristar's existence a secret. But just being there was enough to remember his friend, and remembering was always good.

Tails was about to take Ristar to a pleasant tour - he knew Angel Island like the back of his hand - when he recalled the main reason they were there. He hadn't brought any of their equipment, but Tails couldn't lose any more time. They had to come back. It was crucial to remain focused; he was the responsible one there, wasn't he?

"Ristar! We have to come back."

The light glowing from the star flickered a little, noticing Tails' sudden change of mood. Ristar stared at him, confused and unssettled.

"We can't keep going. I need to gather the equipment to we can bring it here. Can you do that?"

Ristar blinked.

_Oh, yeah. Feel, don't speak._

Tails struggled to hide his own frustration and tried feeling the responsability for his otherwordly friend. _Please, understand_ , he wished, shutting his eyes fiercely. _I want to help you. I need to do this._

Wishing upon a star. Unvoluntarily, he chuckled.

Ristar twinkled happily, and Tails realized he had managed to communicate with him without Cream's help. He sighed in relief, when the star grabbed him again and descended quickly, traversing the clouds and landing on the planet once more.

As soon as Tails gathered everything he needed to install the antenna, the sun was already setting. Having to decide between delaying their plans for one more day or sleeping in a tent, he opted for the tent, adding some camping stuff to their luggage.

Ristar was so big that carrying everything wasn't an issue for him, although the boy felt kinda bad for making him carry his belongings.

"I'm sorry" he said for the fifth time, while putting a bag on his friend's back. It was still hard for him to communicate with Ristar properly, and he kept talking instead of feeling. "I really wish we could use Tornado so you didn't need to carry all that stuff, but I swear it's for your own good..."

He felt an inexplicable calmness when Ristar twinkled gently.

"Well, thank you. For your patience and all...'

When they came back to the sea of clouds, the Sun had already given its way to the other stars. Thousands and thousands of tiny shining dots twinkled at them from a giant, navy blue rug. It was the same thing they saw in daylight, but beautiful in a different way; instead of the warmth and the blinding light reflecting on the clouds, the landscape was now cold, calm, silent. Even the waterfalls seemed to fall less intensely.

Tails lit out a fire close to the beach and set up their tents. He still had to adjust the antenna a little more, and they could only reach a higher place in the next day - travel through Angel Island during nighttime wasn't safe, even though he knew where to go. When he finally sat beside the bonfire to rest a little, Tails felt the alien's absence.

Ristar was sitting at the "shore", his legs swinging outside the island. He stared upwards, to the sky, his hands leaning on the floor on his back. The star's light, usually so bright and incessant, now flickered gently. He was extremely quiet, but still Tails felt the same thing from when the star explained the purpose of his journey - a strong heartache, and a feeling of sadness and nostalgia that was weird, but familiar at the same time.

Leaving the campsite, Tails walked to the beach and sat beside him, his legs also standing outside the island. To any other person it'd be pretty dangerous, but both of them were able to fly, so Tails wasn't really worried. He opened his mouth to speak, then remembered that Ristar probably wouldn't understand him. Silently, he only stared at the sky.

Thousands of stars twinkled innocently at him. Tails looked at each one of them, searching for familiar constellations and wondering how many more he didn't even know existed, and if all those stars were as alive and conscious as Ristar was.

"Are all of them like… Like you?" Tails asked, not really expecting an answer.

To his surprise, however, the star nodded.

"But then… You aren't an adult star, are you?"

It was a silly question, Tails knew; if his guess was correct, stars like the Sun were considered adults. The Sun was thousands of times bigger than Mobius. Ristar wasn't bigger than nine feet. Still, Ristar shook his head briefly. He had spent quite some time with Cream and Tails, and was already starting to recognize their communication patterns, much like the kids were doing with his.

"So when you grow up, you'll be like the others? Hangin in space?" He tried to complement his question by adding the same feeling the alien emanated so strongly. He thought of Knuckles, whose presence seemed so close and still so far, being absent from his homeland. He thought of Sonic, who left two weeks ago and left no signs of coming back early. Loneliness almost never bothered him - but sometimes, it would poke him in the back, just to remind him it was still there.

Ristar jingled, and one of his light rims emanated from him, striking Tails with a feeling of loneliness ten times bigger.

Tails wasn't a star. He wouldn't spend eternity hanging in space, illuminating a solar system or just shining to garnish the skies. He wouldn't live thousands of light-years apart from his own family. They always came back. They were always with him.

Ristar would lose that, one day. Maybe that's why he was so determined to find his father - the star wanted to enjoy his youth close to the one he cared for the most.

Not knowing what to say - having nothing to say _at all_ \- the boy stood in silence, beside his new friend, looking at the stars.

The stars looked back.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> OK, small explanation: on my other Sonic fic, Bonfire, Sonic exploded the Tornado and Tails had to build another one. Also Knuckles went on a quest to gather the master emerald shards again (it wasn't his fault this time, leave him alone.). This is a story I actually wanted to tell too, but I still don't know what themes I'd tackle, so maybe another time!
> 
> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AN50tZWwyTY
> 
> Also, I made an illustration for this chapter! https://natizilda.deviantart.com/art/Heaven-Is-Under-The-Sun-730078362


	6. Light

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is the chapter I like the least. I don't know, I couldn't do better. But there's a Free Willy ripoff at the end, so that's cool.

Tails had already scratched Sky Sanctuary out of the list of possible places to install the antenna, even though it was the highest place in the entire island. Without Knuckles around to give him permission, he didn't feel in his right to invade a sacred place to put a stick with Eggman's borrowed technology right on top. Besides, Tails knew his friend really well; the echidna would never leave the island without any kind of defense activated. The sanctuary was probably crowded with traps. Instead, they had to go to the second highest place: Ice Cap.

It was an isolated part of the island that didn't match the rest of the geography: in the middle of a pleasant, tropical climate, stood a series of snowy mountains that ended suddenly on the next turn, but it was _hell_ to go through. Cold. But still, hell. However, thanks to Ristar, they wouldn't have to spend half the time Tails and Sonic did travelling across that area. They just had to bolt right to the top, right?

What Tails wasn't expecting was the wind taking them away from their course.

The boy didn't even have time to react - his body was brutally pulled out of Ristar's arms and he went flying with the wind, desperately trying to take control of this unwanted flight. The only thing he managed to do was grab his backpack and pray for the wind to trow him on a soft pile of snow, instead of the hard floor made of ice.

He fell face first into the freezing water.

Keeping his eyes open and trying to stay calm, Tails hanged the backpack in one of his arms and swam upwards, following the rays of sunlight. Soon, his head broke out of the water's surface and he swallowed the freezing air, fighting against his body's own protests to the cold.

He had to gather all his willpower to move forward, swimming towards the closest iceberg. The boy clung onto the white surface and lifted his body out of the water, trying to decide which was the worst; the incredibly cold water or the wind blowing against his wet fur.

"R-r-ristar..." He tried to scream, but his voice went out of his throat like a small squeak, fighting all the trembling muscles at once. Oh God, what if he died of hypothermia now? If only they weren't alone…

"H-h-h-h-help..."

Tails fell on his knees on the floating piece of ice, shaking uncontrollably. He thought of grabbing his blanket from the bag, but what for? It was as wet as him! In the middle of a tundra, floating on an iceberg in a lake, Tails saw himself completely hopeless.

No. It was his responsibility. He was not going to die there.

Tails put one foot on the slippery floor.

Then another.

Straightened his spine, still trembling.

Shook his whole body like a puppy, to get rid of the water before it froze on his fur.

Then, when he felt minimally steady, still freezing, he spun his two tails and flew up, looking for land and fighting bravely against the wind.

  


Miraculously, not even believing what he was seeing, Tails found a thermal spring, hidden on a small valley formed by ice sheets. He landed so fast it almost seemed like a free fall, and got closer to the water, glad by the warm steam rising out of it. He didn't intend on entering the spring - Tails didn't know how hot it was, and wetting his fur even more, even on warm waters, seemed like a terrible idea - but he calmed himself a little, knowing he wasn't going to freeze anymore.

Ok, so he was safe - but where was Ristar? He needed to find the star, and see if he was alright. But the tundra was a labyrinth of ramps and slopes and old traps built by the echidna tribe - running around, yelling his friend's name wouldn't do any good.

Tails opened his backpack and looked at its contents. The antenna's parts were there, as well as Sonic's old voice recorder and the portable generator - which was protected by a hard case, but the recorder was all wet, probably useless. The camping equipment was also with him. The tapes, the antenna's base and Tails' tools were in the other bag on Ristar's back.

Still, a new plan formed on his mind. Plans, in Tails' experience, weren't a guarantee of success, but they didn't need to work the exact way they were conveyed. What he needed, at that moment, was something to move forward. He had antennas on his bag and he knew how to call Ristar. He just had to take one step after the other.

Tails stood at the thermal spring for a while more, calming himself and waiting for his fur to dry at least a little bit before moving on. For some reason, he felt more confident than scared - growing up beside the most confident individual in the world had that effect on him. He was alone and with a huge problem on his hands, having to find a lost friend in a middle of a frozen landscape.

It was quite an adventure.

 

_\------------------------------------------_

 

The wind. Cold.

Surprise.

Horror.

_No!_

The wind.

No.

_No!_

_Come back!_

Fall.

Cold.

Force.

Weakness

Weakness.

_Weakness!_

Cold.

Too cold.

Fear.

_BAM._

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

Ristar.

Ristar.

_Ristar!_

 

_\------------------------------------------_

 

Tails was on top of a mountain, looking down, trying to recognize his friend's yellowish glow in the middle of the snowy landscape that strongly reflected the sunlight. He was holding the antenna's edge above his head, having it connected to the portable generator, and hoped that his stupid idea worked. Could he communicate with Ristar that way? He had no recordings with the message, so Tails tried to send the "feelings" from his own body, just like the alien was able to. If it didn't work, he had to go with plan B and find a way to make a smoke signal - a thing that he doubted Ristar could understand.

But then, he'd go for plan C. And then, plan D.

He just had to keep trying.

 

_\------------------------------------------_

 

Darkness.

Fear.

_Where are you?_

Concern.

Friend.

Darkness.

.

Light.

Light.

Light.

_Light!_

 

\----------------------------------

 

_It's okay. I'm okay. I'm here. We're getting out of here. We'll complete our mission and go back home._

_It's going to be okay._

_I am here._

He didn't know if hope counted as an emotion or a spirit state - or if Ristar was able to understand the concept of "hope" at all - but that’s what he was trying to tell his friend. It was hope what saved him from freezing in the middle of the tundra; it was hope what sent him that way. Hope was the last thing to die, always, and now Tails needed Ristar to understand that too.

_Everything is okay._

He waited, anxiously, his heart pounding on his chest, the antenna still above his head, absolutely still. The only sound he could hear was from the cold, howling wind that whipped on his still wet fur. _C'mon, Ristar._

_C'mon._

...

As if fullfilling his wish, a bright beam of light sparkled right in front of Tails, managing to shine more brightly than the rest of the white landscape around them. The boy smiled, widening his blue eyes.

"IT WORKED!" He screamed, and the still strong gale took his words away almost immediately, but it didn't matter: Ristar had heard his message. It worked. Ristar had heard him!

"WOOHOO!" He jumped, punching the air, laughing while the star made a gracious arc above his head, smoothly landing beside him and giving the boy a bear hug that almost crushed the kid.

"Ah… O-ok, I'm happy to… Oof… You can let me go now..."

Ristar released him, jingling happily, a huge smile on his equally huge face. The boy panted and laughed at the same time, trying to catch his breath.

"Is the equipment still with you?" Tails asked, after making sure that his friend was perfectly fine. He pointed to his own backpack to make sure Ristar understood him. The alien turned his back, showing his own luggage.

"Nice! We can finish our task, after all!" He climbed on his friend's back and pointed to the snowy mountain right above them, the tallest in the whole zone. "Let's set this thing up and leave this ice cap once and for all. I _really_ need a hot chocolate."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I like Angel Island as it was showed in Sonic 3 & Knuckles. I'm a classic bitch.
> 
> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c15OR_hD9Tg


	7. Two Idiots

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> "Because we want to grow up, and when we grow up we desire to be back at the start. For a scratched knee hurts a lot less than a broken heart."
> 
> To compensate for the last chapter, this is my favorite one! Can you guess why?

When Tails mentioned the need of a hot chocolate, it was serious. He guided Ristar to a detour at his own house, instead of coming back to the observatory - There, he could dry himself, since he was still really cold. Ristar's body emanated heat naturally - it was like Tails was constantly exposed to the Sun - but still, a warm shower, some blankets and a hot mug sounded extremely necessary at that moment.

The star landed on the roof and Tails got in from the window, having forgotten the house's keys. Then, he entered the kitchen to make a hot chocolate mug for Ristar too, before going for a hot shower.

When the milk was almost boiling, Tails heard an extremely welcome voice shouting outside.

"This is the most absurd Christmas decoration I've ever seen. Isn't it too early for that, too? We're still in October!"

Tails looked at the hall's door, smiling, and felt his glove soak with hot milk when it leaked from the steel mug.

"Ouch!" He took out the glove quickly, shaking his hand. Ignoring the pain, the boy turned off the stove and ran to the door, fumbling with the keys before finally managing to open it.

There he was, exactly like Tails always remembered him. The bright blue fur, spines on his back, the same old smile, sparkling green eyes…

Except he wasn't smiling, and his eyes didn't sparkle, but looked confused. He stared upwards, incredulous, pointing to the roof, his mouth half open.

"Tails, why is there a giant star on top of our house?" Sonic asked, raising a brow and facing his brother, his finger still pointing up.

"Giant alien. Needs help to get home."

"Right. HI!" He hugged the boy by the neck, and Tails felt sufocated for the second time of the day. "How I missed my favorite little brother!"

"I'm your only little brother, Sonic."

"See! There's not even a competition for ya!" Tails laughed, untangling himself from the hug, and Sonic leaned back to look better at him. "Why're you so wet and cold? And where's your glove?"

Ristar chose that exact moment to get to the floor with a bang, making both of them almost fall down with the rumble.

"... I guess you had your own little adventure while I was away, didn't ya?"

"More or less. This is Ristar, Sonic! He's an alien that's been travelling the whole universe back and forth looking for his father, stopping at each galaxy to see if he can find him. Me and Cream are helping him define some coordinates so he can get back on the road!" And then he quickly explained everything that went on those last days.

Tails wanted to keep Ristar existence a secret, to prevent involving anybody else, but telling everything to Sonic made him feel a lot lighter on the chest. He'd probably know what to do. He'd understand that they couldn't tell anybody the alien's existence, and that they needed to keep it between themselves.

Right?

Sonic opened a huge grin after hearing Tails' story.

"What a journey, huh! And did ya just come back from Angel Island? Did you give Knucklehead a punch for me?"

"Knuckles isn't back from his trip yet."

"You're by yourselves then? Amy could help too if ya asked."

"I… I want to keep people's involvement to a minimum."

Sonic blinked, confused.

"Why?" He asked, his voice coming out a little squeaky with unbelief, while shrinking his shoulders and lifting his arms in an inquisitive gesture.

"There are people from the government after him! I can't involve anyone else. It was already a mistake putting Cream in the middle of all this trouble, let alone the rest..."

"The worst person you could drag on was Cream, and she's already part of this anyway, so what's the difference?" Sonic shrank his shoulders again, casually. "And for what you told me, she helped you a lot with talking to the firework show dude here." He pointed to Ristar right behind him. The alien waved happily in response.

"It's my responsibility! I can't involve anyone else in this! I need to do this alone! I shouldn't have told even you!"

"You're _dreaming_ if you think I shouldn't know about this! It's wonderful! You made a friend from across the universe and wouldn't tell me _anythin_ g?!"

"Well, I need to know how to solve stuff on my own, right? I… I depend too much on you!"

He shouted that a lot louder than intended - and it was something he didn't like admiting. Sonic loosened his arms, raising his eyebrows, a strange expression on his face. But, now that the words were already out, Tails couldn't stop himself.

"I can't depend on your help for the rest of my life! What kind of person I'm growing out to be if you have to take my hand everytime something happens to me? I need to think for myself, I need to take my own steps, and involving people around me isn't the answer!"

"Is this why you're making so much mystery with this thing? Are ya trying to… Prove yourself or something?"

"I… No, of course not!" He felt his face heaten upon hearing Sonic’s question, even though his body still felt the uncomfortable cold from their visit to Ice Cap. Was that the reason? Was Tails just trying to prove himself instead of helping Ristar? Was he that selfish? "But I'm the reason we're in this mess, and now I need to fix it! It's my responsibility."

"You sound like Shadow."

"No I don't!!!"

"...Yeah, you're right. No one else sounds like Shadow." Sonic sighed and pressed his fingers on his forehead, as if he felt a migraine coming. "Tails, y'don't 'depend' on me. You just came back from Angel Island by yourself, soaking wet, carrying two bags and a giant star. You didn't need me to do any of this. Asking people help doesn't mean you're incompetent." He laid his weight in one of his legs, resting a hand on his hips and gesturing with the other. "How long since I stopped fighting my fights alone? Even when it was only the two of us, I had someone to count on. And that someone was you, I wouldn't even _be_ here if it weren't for you. Get it? It's like a two-way street."

The boy frowned and lowered his head, regretting his words. He didn't expect to have that kind of fight at a time like this, and now he felt bad for "exploding" with someone he hasn't seen for two weeks. Sonic grinned, trying to cheer him up.

"Tails, you're a kid. That doesn't take away any of your skills, but you don't need to act like an adult all the time. You can be… The age you are, y'know? It's already a lot, I mean, my mental age is younger than your real one anyway." He stuck his tongue out, giving him a thumbs up. "But you don't always have to be the mature one in the family. We can be two idiots together. I'll allow you."

Tails smiled, then sneezed strongly. Even Ristar got startled with the noise - he had never seen someone sneeze before.

"Oooooookay" Said Sonic, pushing Tails inside the house and gesturing for Ristar to follow him. "After this super serious arguing, it's better if you take a hot shower and avoid getting the biggest cold in the world." He peaked at the mess in the kitchen while taking the boy upstairs and chuckled. "I'll take care of the hot chocolate."

 

\----------------------------------

 

It rained like crazy that night.

With the rain, it was impossible for Tails to keep going with their plan. He intended to put the last antenna at the Station Square's tallest Skyscraper, and was honestly a little bit tired of the water. Besidsd, he doubted that Sonic would let him leave that night anyway. After all, he really felt a small cold coming. For the first time in the week, Tails allowed himselft to relax a little in front of the fireplace, while Sonic talked cheerfully with Ristar at the other side of the room. His friend learned to talk to the star a lot quickly than he had - empathy was a natural thing for Sonic.

Tails didn't forget to call Cream and explain her everything that happened, in case the girl tried to look for them at the observatory. She got _really_ worried about the events in Angel Island, _really_ excited about Sonic's return, and _really_ upset that it was raining and she couldn't visit them _right now_.

"We're going to Station Square tomorrow night, Cream, and you can go with us, ok? So you can say goodbye to Ristar and everything…"

She got silent for a moment after his answer.

_"Goodbye?"_

"Yeah, well… If we get a response from the transmission, he'll have to go, right? Wasn't that the reason of our plan?"

_"Oh..."_

The conversation didn't go much further after this, and soon she hung up. Tails turned off his phone too. He had the impression that Cream got really upset when he mentioned saying goodbye, but what could he do? It was true. They had to say goodbye.

At last, Ristar fell asleep, his body's natural light becoming softer and flickering slightly. Sonic sat down at his comfy armchair right beside Tails, putting his feet on top of the center table, like he always did.

"This is crazy. The way he talks to people's amazing. It's amazing how it works. I can..."

"Feel everything he feels, yes. I know."

Tails kept quiet, looking at his own feet. Sonic obviously noted his sadness, but decided to let the boy speak at his own pace.

"Sonic?"

"That's me."

"How do you handle this?"

"Your stinky feet? I don't. I'm slowly dying at this exact moment."

"No..." Tails chuckled unwittingly. "The goodbyes… All of them."

Sonic stared at him for a while, thinking about the question. A gloomy expression took place of the usual brightness in his eyes.

“People come and go, Tails. We can’t prevent that. Everybody’s free to come and go.”

“But we miss them.”

“Yeah… And that’s why we do our best for them while they’re here. We make sure their stay becomes memorable. So they can remember us. Sometimes, they come back. Those who don’t, or can’t, we keep’em in our hearts.

He quietly lowered his head and fidgeted with the bracelet below his glove - the last remain of Light Gaia. It was unusual, seeing him that way, so thoughtful and distant. Tails realized Sonic missed everyone as much as he did, but took care not to show that much. Both stood in silence for a while, appreaciating each other's company, each one lost on their own thoughts.

At last, like waking up from a dream, Sonic shook his head and smiled.

"It happens. That's life, y'know?" He noticed his friend's worried and tired look, and widened his grin as much as he could. "You've been working too much, Tails. Those dark circles in your eyes are almost becoming sentient."

"Yeah. Maybe."

"Go catch some Z's, buddy.  Tomorrow we have a star to send off."

He stood up from his seat, going towards the stairs. Before leaving, Sonic stopped beside Tails' armchair and scratched the young brother's head softly, in a surprisingly comforting gesture. Then, he went up the stairs, making as little noise as possible so Ristar wouldn't wake up.

Still sad, but knowing that he wouldn't need to face that goodbye alone, Tails fell asleep in the same armchair he was sitting on, dreaming with the past.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z6JBBkOam78
> 
> This song has everything to do with this chapter, that's what you need to know.


	8. I'm Here

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> TIME FOR SOME ACTION!!!!

Cream couldn't be more happy: not only she was with Ristar again, but also Sonic, in the same night. He picked her up on the Tornado, since the little girl wasn't used to his speed ( _"Don't you dare exploding the plane again!"_ ) while Tails finished adjusting the last antenna, the most powerful of them all, and soon the five of them (counting Cheese) were ready to a last adventure, before Ristar left the planet.

Tails, Cream, Cheese and Sonic went on the plane: Tails on the pilot's seat, Cream as a co-pilot and Sonic on his favorite seat - the wings. Ristar followed right behind them, bright like a lighthouse, and they made sure to fly as high as possible, to disguise the star's light with the night sky.

Sonic commented on the possibility of doing that task during the day - Ristar's glow was less distinguishable in the sunlight. But sending a shooting star back to space during the night just seemed… Right. And they could see his departure better. Tails thought that was the least he could do for Cream. Upon mentioning his reasons to Sonic, feeling a bit silly, the boy was received with a smile and a cheerful "Whatever floats your boat, buddy!"

"WOW, Tails, what the heck is that?" the hedgehog asked, upon seeing the red satellite out of Tails' huge sports bag. They were on top of a skyscraper, close to the park at the center of the city. The building's roof was an heliport, so it was pretty wide and open for them to land on it.

"What? Oh, we found it at the junkyard." Tails shrugged in response. "I never thought I was going to say this, but we have to thank Eggman this time. If it wasn't for his technology..."

"Don't you think it's kinda risky to activate one of his satellites out of nowhere?"

"I checked everything. This thing has nothing on it, just a GPS system. Like Google Maps!"

"Dunno, Tails..." Sonic frowned at the device, like it had insulted his own mother. "Well, if you say so… I trust you, dude."

But Sonic couldn't take his eyes off the satellite, with a harsh expression on his face. _I can't blame him_ , Tails thought, while putting the antenna's support on its place. _I wouldn't expect him to trust his greatest enemy's technology, anyway. And I can't even demand it from him._

At last, everything was set and ready for the simultaneous transmission. Tails wished the other antennas were in good conditions - the one in the observatory was checked numerous times, but one could only hope to know how was the one in Angel Island. May the winds be gentle enough to keep the device in place for at least a few more minutes, if it was still there.

Meanwhile, Cream and Ristar sat at the building's edge, looking at the movement below them.

"Isn't it beautiful, Ristar?" The night lights reflected on the rabbit's huge eyes. "I almost never see the city at night. It's so colorful and bright..."

"What _isn't_ bright" Sonic interrupted her, with a jokingly but harsh tone, pulling the little girl from the skyscraper's border. "Is a young lady with her feet hanging out of the building."

"I can fly, Sonic!"

"Yep, but if your mother finds out I let you do this, she'll rip my legs out, and I _really_ like my legs… So let's just be nice and obey uncle Sonic here, okay?" He sat the girl on his shoulders so she could keep admiring the city. "Now tell me what are ya going to wish for the coolest star in the sky."

"I can’t tell you, Sonic! It's a secret!"

"I promise I won't tell anybody!"

"But then it won't come true!"

Tails laughed, hearing the conversation while working. The group's atmosphere couldn't be more pleasant - a mix of excitement and anxiety that was only aggravated by Ristar's own mood, who couldn't stop emanating his own aura constantly, ringing like a bell.

Goodbyes were hard, but it was for a good cause. He was going home. He'd find his father.

"That's it guys, I think we're ready." Tails clapped once, eager to start. He grabbed a remote controller full of buttons and twisted some of them, activating the device. "Ready?"

"Yeeees!" Sonic and Cream yelled together. Ristar glowed strongly standing beside them.

With a grin, Tails pressed a last button.

"Sound From the Heart", the name Tails gave to it, started playing, resonating through the whole city. Everyone could hear Ristar's "song" to his father. _The transmission is stronger than I thought_ , Tails weighted, feeling the notes that vibrated on his bones like a gong. The group kept silent, waiting. Tails monitored the antenna's activity, and smiled upon noticing that it worked just as expected. He couldn't know how far in the universe it'd go, but it was the most he could do, and hoped it was enough. Tails turned off the message, now waiting for a returning signal.

They waited. And waited.

It seemed like an eternity.

Were they supposed to wait for so long?

Maybe it didn’t work...

Suddenly, his remote controller flashed violently. The kid widened his eyes and let go of the object when it started vibrating, too. The antenna couldn't stop shaking either. Foreseeing the disaster, Sonic grabbed his brother and ran away with the kids, hiding behind an air vent. Ristar followed them, staying right behind the group.

The antenna exploded.

But not before letting go a clear, wonderful, beautiful sound, louder than Ristar's message. And all of them understood it.

_I'm here. Come find me._

Tails' eyes watered slightly, and he felt a sudden squeeze on his chest. Thinking fast, he pulled his yellow tablet from the bag and recorded the message before it went silent.

"Did you get something, Tails?" Sonic asked, worried with the boy's silence. Ristar glowed brightly, almost burning them.

The fox didn't respond immediately, still focused on the tablet's screen.

"Tails…?"

Cream put her small hand gently on his shoulder. Tails turned slowly to them, his eyes still lingering on the monitor for an extra second. His face was wet with tears that weren't really his. But still, he smiled at his friends.

"I did it. I got the coordinates. He can go home."

Sonic and Cream grinned widely, exchaging looks. Cheese flew in circles, excited. The three of them turned to Ristar, who widened his eyes and opened a huge smile.

Before either of them could celebrate, though, the deafening sound of propellers filled the air, and the group got ravaged by strong windblows. Closing his eyes and cowering towards his brother, Tails got disoriented, even though he knew exactly what was that about.

No one was as disoriented as Ristar, though. The star got up and turned on his heels, looking at the huge, black helicopter that appeared before them. Sonic pulled Tails closed and moved away from the noise's source, but another pair of propellers announced its arrival behind them. They were surrounded.

Three helicopters, the big ones. The door of one of them opened, and three figures got out of it, landing on the heliport. Two were smaller, with about Sonic's height - the other was a mountain of metal.

"When we got the undercover signal..." The closer of the two newcomers spoke with his deep voice, walking calmly towards them. "We expected one of Doctor Eggman's crazy plans taking action. We've been monitoring the frequency of his equipment for a while." Adjusting his gloves, he stopped in front of Sonic, who put the kids behind him, straightening his back puffing his chest with pride. "What I didn't expect, however, was to find two idiots and an innocent child, with the company of the fugitive alien we lost a week ago. May I know what is the brilliant idea behind all of this?"

Sonic frowned at the newcomers, and Tails felt his friend's muscles tensioning all at once.

"Not your business, Shadow."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XeLaiL9tk68


	9. The Aquarium

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> These chapters were fun to write.

"Take them." Rouge announced beside him, at a black and rectangular walkie-talkie on her hand.

"Hey, hey, hey, leave the kids out of this!" Sonic stepped forward, ready to punch his rival. Ristar blocked the passage of the other soldiers that left their helicopters on the other side of the roof.

"We won't hurt the children, you imbecile. But you had contact with an alien form for a whole week, we need to take you to quarantine."

"He's not dangerous, Shadow!" Tails screamed behind his brother, passing below Sonic's lifted arms." He's pacific and inofensive, and just wants to go home."

"And I suppose you intended to let him get out of here with all of the planet's information, am I correct?"

Tails stared at him, wincing at his glare. Shadow was an intimidating presence to anyone, and raising his voice to him was really uncomfortable for the boy. But he raised his head, gathering all his courage.

"He's just looking for his father. He desires no ill to any of us."

"He's an extraterrestrial invading our planet and has to be treated as such. This discussion is over."

The armed soldiers saw this as a cue to get closer and arrest the group. Omega advanced, a little bit faster than any of them wanted, and Rouge stopped him, glaring. It was clear that Sonic was this close to jumping on Shadow's throat, but held himself, and Tails saw why: all the soldiers held guns. If they opened fire, him and Cream would be right in the middle of the fight, and Sonic couldn't allow them to hurt the kids that were his responsibility.

Ristar didn't move an inch, just staring at Shadow with his huge eyes.

Tails' heart pounded strongly on his chest, and his brain was burning. What could he do? Making a great effort not to panic, he felt Cream's small hand grabbing onto his. The boy looked at her, trying to stay calm, but the cold sweat soaking his gloves stated otherwise.

When a soldier grabbed one of Sonic's hands to handcuff him ("Hey!"), he was immediately distracted. Everybody halted and stared in a confused silence, as Shadow went flying out of the building, dragged by a beam of light.

"RISTAR, NO!" Tails yelled, being the first to understand what happened; Ristar identified Shadow as the main reason for the kids' fear and went after him, obviously not understanding why they didn't react. The soldiers froze for a second, watching as the star flashed towards the center of the city, carrying the hedgehog with him.

Sonic took his cue: grabbing the kids, he ran out of there, going down the building's wall on foot.

Cream couldn't stop screaming on his arms; Tails, already used to it, just held onto his neck, closing his eyes to avoid the strong windblow.  
Sonic landed on the street and ran in a zigzag, entering dark alleys, perfectly aware that the city was crowded with G.U.N. soldiers. At least, noticing he didn't have anywhere else to run, Sonic stopped on a desert street and put the kids down.

"Forget Tornado. Get out of here." He crouched to face them, with a serious expression.

"But where do we go? They know where we live."

"Yeah, I know. I trust ya to find a nice hideout, ok?" Sonic put his hand on the fox's shoulder, in a calming gesture.

"What about you?"

"I'll mislead the helicopters and go after Ristar. They're looking for me, but I doubt they'll notice you guys are missing."

"But..."

"Tails, please, I need ya to do this." He looked around anxiously, making sure they weren't caught.

"But…!" The boy stuttered, not knowing what you say. After everything they talked about, was Sonic really just going to keep him out of the way?

"We don't want to leave you behind, Sonic..." Cream whispered.

"Look, I'm _literally_ the fastest person - no, the fastest _thing_ \- in the whole planet! I can outwit these guys! I need ya to trust me, ok? I still need to save Ristar from Shadow, so _please_ , get to a safehouse so i can find you later. I promise!"

Sonic looked at the little girl and then stared at Tails with a harsh look. It was then that the fox understood. It wasn't him who had to get out of the way - it was Cream. He nodded.

"Right. I'll send you a message when we get to safety. You still have my communicator with you, right?"

Sonic pulled one of his gloves slightly, showing a weird black watch below it. He winked, grinning.

"Good luck." He ran to the end of the street, holding back on purpose so the helicopters could find him easier.

"Good luck..." Sonic had barely come back to his life,  and now they had to go separate ways again. And it was all his fault.

"Let's go, Cream."

He turned to the other way, and found himself face to face with a white bat, her wings wide opened.

"Hello, darling. Come here often?"

 

\-------------------------------------

 

_Fear. Fear. Fear._

_Fear. Fear. Fear._

_Dad._

_Light._

 

\-------------------------------------

 

He felt the air leaving his lungs when the impact suddenly struck his abdomen. Both flew at extremely high speed above the city, in a straight line, and it took him a while to understand why.

The alien had grabbed him by the waist and flashed away from the skyscraper.

 _Damn you._ He tried reaching for the emerald in the small brown bag hanging on his shoulder, but the alien was too strong, and it prevented him from moving properly. He closed his eyes and kept trying, his fingers barely scratching the bag…

He finally put his hand inside it and felt the stone's sharp surface.

_"Chaos Control!"_

Both disappeared from above the crowded streets. Scaring a group of tourist at a museum's entrance,  they landed on the staircase, creating a crater and ricocheting up again. _Great, he bounces_ , Shadow thought, trying to teleport away from him and failing - Ristar still held him, and they'd end up travelling together.

Both reappeared in an alley surrounded by wrecked buildings and bounced through the walls at alarming speed, leaving a net of light on their way. Shadow's head was spinning. Closing his eyes to avoid nausea, he created a chaos spear with his hands and threw it at point-blank on the star's bright, yellow body. The alien let go of him and Shadow fell on the floor, standing up almost immediately and skidding to a stop. The star slided on his foot on the opposite side, with a serious, almost angry expression.

Shadow planted both of his feet firmly on the floor and waited. As predicted, Ristar flew towards him again, ready to grab the hedgehog and go bouncing on the walls once more. But this time, Shadow was prepared. Holding the emerald firmly with his left hand, he waited for the exact moment they'd make contact, and teleported right above the park at the center of the city.

They were free falling, about to violently hit the floor. Shadow kicked Ristar, moving him away slightly and getting out of the way. He reappeared right on the star's back, a second before they reached the ground.

A huge cloud of dust rose from their landing point. Some passersby yelled, pointing at them.

"I don't know about the 'pacifist' part." The hedgehog stood up, dusting his hands, getting down from the alien's back with a jump. "But the boy was right. You really _are_ inofensive." He let out a single and sarcastic laugh, filled with disdain.

Shadow put the emerald back on the bag and pulled out a comunicator, ready to warn his squad about the mission's success. The object fell from his hand when, without a warning, Ristar closed his fingers strongly around Shadow's neck and flashed upwards, going for the sky.

This time, Shadow couldn't get the emerald again, trying to loosen the alien's surprisingly strong grip. Feeling the lack of air, he quickly figured the star's intentions: he planned to take shadow to the stratosphere, to get rid of him out of the planet.

Still held by the neck, he managed to leave out a devilish smile.

 

\----------------------------

 

Tails stood in front of Cream, frowning at the bat.

"Oh, so cute. You must think you're a superhero, right?" She mocked, resting her hands on her hips.

"How did you follow us?" Rouge wasn't fast enough to keep up with Sonic, was she?

"Oh, I didn't. When Shadow went flying around the city with the alien, I put our backup fleet to watch all the routes you guys could use to escape. Since Sonic was more worried about misguiding the helicopters, I managed to get here first. It was a _really convenient_ mix of fortuity and cleverness, don't you think?

He just stared at her, still frowning. _So_ she _is the brain of this whole operation_.

"Very ingenious of you. And what did we do wrong, anyway? Let us go!"

"Honey, you're not stupid." She got closer to him, her hips moving loosely, leaning down a little to look on the boy's eyes. Her wings stretched and closed in a menacing move. He moved away slowly. Rouge could be really intimidating when she wanted to. "We dealt with enough alien attacks to know that it's GUN's duty to prevent it from happening again. Those are security measures." She took another step towards them. The kids bumped onto some trash cans on the sidewalk, still trying to move away. "Now, I have explicit orders to not hurt any of the civilians, but I won't hesitate to use brute force in case of..."

Tails didn't let her finish the speech; grabbing one of the trash can lids, he threw it at Rouge like a frisbee. She avoided it graciously with a twist, annoyed by the interruption.  
"What the..."

Tails tried flying away from her. She laughed with disdain.

"You wish, kiddo."

She went up quickly and gave him a kick in the back, throwing him on the ground once again. He stood up and faced her, rubbing his back, hissing in pain.

"I thought you couldn't hurt civilians."

" _As I was saying_ , I won't hesitate to use brute force if you don't cooperate. Besides… Wait..." She looked around, frowning. "Where's that little girl?"

Rouge stared at him. He grinned, besides the pained expression, his hand still rubbing his back.

"You can go after her, or you can keep me. A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush, don't you think?"

She grunted. _Tiny noble, smart boy_ , she thought, handcuffing him in her own wrist.

_An apple doesn't fall too far from the tree, I guess._

Rouge dragged him through the street, screaming at the comunicator for a transportation, when something in the sky made her stop. Tails' smile widened.

"There he goes!" He shouted, looking at Rouge to see her reaction. His smile disappeared slowly, however, when he noticed she was also smiling.

"Pay attention, kid" The bat said, resting a hand on her hip once again. "That's how you think ahead."

The beam of light went up, up, up… And then it stopped. Its light suddenly disappeared, and a dark body fell down.

Invisible hexagon shapes blinked, with colorful lights, in a chain reaction from the star's point of impact. Then, they disappeared, like those shapes never existed.

"A force field." Tails whispered, horrified.

Ristar was stuck in the planet's atmosphere, like a giant aquarium.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bs81vmgWaPk


	10. Ultraviolet

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sorry if the action is too confusing. I'm better at doing dialogue than action sequences, hahaha.
> 
> (Which is a problem since I write a pokémon comic)

As soon as he noticed the alien's plan, Shadow let himself get carried away, breathing harshly due to the grip around his neck. He was prepared for that situation - of course, he wasn't expecting to get dragged by the star in this, but occupation hazards existed, right?

The alien was certain they'd leave the planet's orbit and would just keep going.

That’s when he hit the force field.

It was one of the newest GUN's technologies: a force field capable of covering a wide area, able to protect even a giant city like Station Square and part of the state's countryside. The moment an alien's presence was identified by their headquarters, the force field was activated. If he was so eager to enter the atmosphere, now he had to fight to get out.

The cells blinked with the star's contact, electrocuting him immediately. Shadow felt the electrical current passing through his body, but he could handle it. Ristar, however, passed out instantly, closing his eyes and free falling. The fist that held Shadow's neck opened and both fell quickly towards the floor.

Fighting against the wind, the agent opened his bag and pulled the emerald from the inside, holding it with both hands.

_"Chaos Control!"_

He landed safely beside a stone fountain in the park, at the same moment Ristar fell right on top of it, making a crater on its place. Water and debris scattered everywhere with the impact. The head of the angel statue that used to pour water in the fountain fell heavily right next to Shadow’s feet, it’s empty eyes staring sadly in the distance.

Shadow looked down at the fallen star, rubbing his sore neck. _Strong thing, that one._ Ristar had almost smashed his throat, and was clearly trying to get rid of Shadow. _So much for a pacifist._

The GUN soldiers assigned for the mission suddenly appeared all around them, leaded by Omega.

"Opportunity to destroy the enemy." He sentenced with his robotic voice, charging his cannons. His army acted accordingly.

"No." Shadow interrupted, raising his hand. "We need to know what he is, where he comes from, and what he wants from us. If you shoot him, we'll lose this opportunity."

Omega put down his guns reluctantly, disappointed.

"Ristar!!!" Like they were one, all of the soldiers turned their guns towards the scream, and Cream was greeted by endless rifles pointed at her. She stopped, her eyes filled with tears.

"Put your guns down!" Shadow screamed harshly. "It's just the bunny girl!"

They lowered their rifles, looking at each other with embarrassment.

"What did you do to him?" She yelled at Shadow, trying to run towards her fallen friend. One of the agents - a huge and strong woman, with dark skin and her curly hair tied on a ponytail - stood in her way, leaning down and holding her strongly, as gentle as she could.

Ristar laid on the floor, his eyes closed, absolutely still. The light on his body had completely faded. The little girl couldn't take her eyes off of him. She seemed horrified.

"He did that with himself. We just prevented him from leaving."

"He just wants to find his dad! And you… You..."

Shadow ignored her. Instead, he took his comunicator, upon hearing Rouge's voice.

"I'm hearing, Rouge. Over."

"I got the boy. Was that thing your doing?"

"On the sky? Yes. We're at the city's park. Meed us here. And Sonic?"

"Playing hide-and-seek with the helicopters."

"Any chance of getting him?"

He received a strong static sizzle in response. Rouge was laughing at him.

"Darling, only you can keep up to him. No, I sent those helicopters to misguide him. It'd be to hard to get the kids with him being all protective around them. When he finally figures what happened, we'll be far away from here.

"Rouge, he also needs to stay in quarantine."

"And he will. It's easier to lock him when he gets to the base to save the kids than here, in the middle of the city."

Shadow let out an almost indistinguishable smile. _This is the reason she's the team's brain._

"Very well. Bring him here, and the other trucks, too. We're leaving."

 

\--------------------------------------------------

 

Pain.

Pain.

Darkness.

Pain.

_Ristar!!!_

Fear.

Anger.

Pain.

Darkness.

.

.

.

.

Light.

Confusion.

Anger. Fear. Anger. Hatred.

_Tails? Cream?_

Fear.

Panic.

Despair.

 

\--------------------------------------------------

 

"What happened to him?" It was the first thing Tails asked, upon seeing Ristar in the middle of the fountain's debris. He tried approaching his friend, but the handcuff on his wrist prevented him from moving further. He stared angrily at Rouge. She merely smiled back at him.

Cream was crying at a shoulder of one of GUN's soldiers. _Cream, what are you doing here? You were supposed to be hidden…_ The other soldiers still pointed their guns to Ristar as precaution. _No. Everything is wrong. He didn't do any harm. He's just a child…_

And what was he? A hero?

No, Sonic was the hero. Tails was also just a child. A child involved in an adventure. An adventure where everything went wrong.

"It's waking up!" One of the soldiers warned. Tails sighed, feeling the tightness of his chest loosen up a little.

"Ristar! You're ok!" The little girl yelled in a muffled voice.

"Don't shoot." He heard Shadow's deep voice between the other agents. "Just keep him under control."

Ristar raised his body slowly, wincing a little. His light flickered back to life as he woke up, not as bright as usual, but at least it was there. He looked around, noticing the other soldiers pointing their riffles at him, only waited for his first movement to start shooting.

"Shadow, he doesn't know what a gun is. He doesn't understand this as a threat."

"He doesn't need to know. He just needs to _feel_ threatened."

Oh, God.

_Feel._

"Shadow, don't scare him more!" Tails widened his eyes. The others seemed indiferent, but the boy was already feeling a fear that wasn't his. "you'll regret it!"

The hedgehog ignored him completely, his attention still at the star. Ristar stared back at him, frowning deeply. But Tails felt more than merely anger coming from him. He felt fear too. A lot of fear. Ristar looked at Tails, then slowly at Cream, with huge eyes. He felt the heavy silence between everyone.

A single ultraviolet rim came out of him, with no sound. The moment it touched Tails, he felt like drowning in Ice Cap’s freezing water again. He couldn't hear anymore; not the rustling leaves on the trees, not the conversations from far away, not the cars on the streets. All the things he feared the most, all his nightmares came over him at once. He hugged himself, feeling an emptiness he had never felt before.

"What the..." Before he could react, the rim reached Shadow too, and he felt on his knees, with wide eyes. No one was spared from Ristar's wave of terror. Soon, all of the soldiers had released their guns and shrunk on their place, paralised with fear.

 

\---------------------------------------

 

_Interesting. He paralises the others with fear. Must be some neurotoxin._

For someone who was reviving his worst memories and phobias, Shadow's mind was surprisingly clear. His body couldn't stop shaking, but he took a deep breath, trying to focus his attention on something else. The concrete's texture scratching his knees. His own breathing. The fountain’s water soaking his gloves.

He fought bravely against all his memories. It was easy. He was used to it.

Slowly, Shadow raised one knee, then the other. His legs were shaking violently, and for a moment he thought that the panic wouldn't let him keep going, but he didn’t stop, one step after the other, towards the alien, pulling the emerald once more that night. Shadow put his hand on the star's body (who was apparently paralised, too) and teleported him right to the insides of one of GUN's armored trucks. Quickly, before panic paralised him again, taking advantage of the adrenalin surge on his veins, he got out and closed the truck's doors.

Despair left him almost immediately. He sighed, feeling the weight on his chest lighten up, and leaned his back on the vehicle's back, letting his body calm itself, breathing heavily. It seemed that the truck's shielding was able to restrain the alien's powers.

Judging by the park's sounds, the others were probably recovering from the star's attack. _Maybe it's not neurotoxin, then. Must come directly from him._ He went back to his team.

"How did you..." Rouge left the question hanging in the air, looking at him with a worrying expression.

"The truck's shielding. He's locked there now. I think the electric shock paralised him, since he's not reacting to anything. I need you to conduct his vehicle for me, Rouge. Omega can go with you, and the others can escort the truck.

"What about you?"

He pointed to Tails with his head.

"I'll take them both."

"Agent Shadow" - one of his colleagues called him. "Wouldn't it be better if _you_ were to escort the alien?"

_They're scared._

"He's paralised and properly restrained." Shadow assured him. "Omega and Rouge are more than necessary to keep him under control." He turned to Rouge. "Sonic will probably come after me once he finds out that we were just toying with him. And like you said" He gave one of his almost unnoticeable smiles. "Only I can keep up with him."

The bat smiled back, crossing her arms.

"Fair enough. It's a good plan. Let's roll, guys."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VXPoJAyeF8k


	11. Kids

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I LOVE everything in this chapter. It was a joy to write

_It's all my fault._

He should have taken Sonic's reaction towards Eggman's satellite like a signal - of course, using that thing would become a problem sooner or later. But nooooooo, he was the smart guy there, wasn't he? _"It's like Google Maps."_ Oh, how he wanted to punch his own face. What hurt more was that knowing that Sonic would NEVER throw it on his face. He'd never admit that it was the young brother's fault. It was a silly thing to get angry at - Tails should be thankful for it - but still, a mistake was a mistake.

And he had made a huge one.

The van jerked through the uneven road, making them swing violently. Tails could bet Shadow was doing that on purpose - or maybe he was just bad at driving. Him and Cream were using seatbelts, but it was still uncomfortable.

"Cream, didn't I tell you to hide?" Tails whispered, frowning at her. He knew it wasn't the best time, but he had to know how she ended up there.

She was hugging Cheese, shaking and looking at the floor. Silent tears ran down her face.

"I-I… I saw him hitting the sky. His light went out."

She looked up to Tails with her huge brown eyes.

"I thought he… He..."

Unable to finish the sentence, she let the Chao go and buried her face on her hands, sobbing. Tails' ears tilted down. He had the same fear upon seeing Ristar falling. His light had never extinguished before. Not even while sleeping. The cold mountains hadn't extinguished him before. Cream was right to be worried. But still...

"You should had let me handle this." Tails rubbed the communicator below his glove with a finger.

He thought about contacting Sonic the moment he was alone with Rouge - he wanted to warn him about Cream - but the sight of Ristar falling erased everything else from his mind. And when the boy finally thought about the communicator, it was too late. With Shadow as their driver and another truck full of soldiers around, it was better not to ruin their only hope of getting out of that situation. Tails hoped Sonic had the common sense of only following then from a distance, instead of engaging a fight in the middle of the road: for him, silently infiltrating on a base seemed easier than putting himself in disadvantage against a group of armed soldiers. Tails trusted Sonic - his friend might be impulsive, but he wasn't stupid.

He stared at the van's small window, which showed the driver's cabin. Shadow hadn't said a word to them since he put both of the kids in the vehicle, besides guiding Cream to fasten her seat belt.

"I don't understand you" Tails said loudly, frustration winning over him. "Six months ago, we worked togeter. We talked. I thought I had a new ally. Now you're treating me and a six-year-old girl like criminals. I'd really like to understand on which side are you on, because it's hard to know when I can trust you and when I need to keep my eyes opened. You're not trustworthy at all.

The van bumped violently to a stop, making the boy almost lay down on the bench he was sitting on. Cream screamed. The driver's small window suddenly opened up, and Tails could see sparkling, bright red eyes from the other side of the bars.

"If you think the actions I choose to take or not are based on supporting a side, you're really mistaken." He spoke firmly, and Tails instinctively shrunk with the intensity of his words. "My life's mission is to protect this planet, and I will do what _I_ find necessary to reach my goals. And whoever tries to interfere _will_ suffer the consequences. Are we clear?"

The boy frowned and unplugged his own belt, standing up and grabbing the window's bars to be face-to-face against Shadow. He held them with such strength that his fingers were starting to go numb.

"But this isn't right! He's not a threat!"

"He relied to brute forced the moment he felt cornered. If it wasn't for the barrier, this alien would have taken me directly to the stratosphere. Honestly, I'm relieved he attacked _me_ instead of any of my agents. He could have hurt them seriously.

Tails didn't get why Shadow had stopped to argue with him. Shadow never reasoned with anybody. But he bought the fight.

"Ristar knows nothing about us! He doesn't know we can't breath in space, or how fragile life on this planet is. He was only trying to protect us!"

"He paralised a whole squad without moving a muscle."

"It was fear! Apparently, he can only communicate with feelings. You were only feeling the same fear he did!"

" _Apparently_? I won't risk a whole planet because of a mere hypothesis - even if that hypothesis was made by you!"

The hedgehog's answer shut him up. He had raised his voice considerably, and there was a tone of urgency in his voice. Shadow turned his attention back to the road and got back to driving, but kept the window opened.

"The extraterrestrial is an unknown creature and will be treated as a menace until further notice, just like Black Doom was. You are not considered criminals, but had contact with the alien and must be put on quarantine." No more words were said after that.

Tails stared at Shadow's back and hit his fists strongly in the van, his heart pounding on his chest. The hedgehog barely moved.

 

\-------------------------------

 

Both kids didn't get a sight of Ristar after the fight in the city. The truck that kept him were taken to another yard in the huge base, while Tails and Cream were escorted to a bright, tall interrogation room, with metallic walls and almost empty, with the exception of a table and two chairs, also made of metal. Two soldiers guarded the door, and the kids were left alone inside, although one agent assured them that he'd come back soon, so the girl could talk to her mother on the phone.

Tails spent the whole way to the base thinking about his discussion with Shadow on the van, and was still pondering the subject, sitting on one of the chairs.

It was obvious that GUN would interfere on an alien's accidental visit in the planet - and of course Shadow would want to get personally involved. Once bitten, twice shy, and Shadow was "bitten" more than once. Tails could see his motivations, even though he still felt betrayed with the sudden change of sides.

Still… Apparently, he had acquired Shadow's respect after helping him come back to their own time, six months ago. That was the reason they argued to start with - Shadow wouldn't even mind him any attention if that wasn't the case. "I won't risk a whole planet because of a mere hypothesis - even if that hypothesis was made by you." He had at least considered what Tails said. _Although they are facts, not hypothesis_ , he reminded himself, annoyed.

Cream had curiously stopped crying since they arrived the base. She sat on the other chair, completely silent, and stared deeply at Tails, her eyes looking like huge spotlights. It took him a while to notice her relentless stare.

"What?"

"You're thinking."

"Well, yeah."

"When you think, you get an idea."

He smiled, feeling his eyes heavy and blurry.

"Not this time, little one. I'm thinking about something else. I don't know how to get out of here." The boy knew he had to encourage her, but he was too clueless to say any words of optimism. _What can I do, anyway?_

She frowned and pouted at him, crossing her arms in front of her.

"Tails, you're a hero! You _can_ get out of here!"

He was sure the guards were listening to everything they were saying outside, but probably weren't paying attention - after all, they were only children having unimportant discussions.

"I'm not the hero, Cream, Sonic is. I'm just the assistant."

He looked at her eyes.

"Sorry for putting you on this mess. It's all my fault."

_It was me who took her to the cornfield._

_It was because of me that we found Ristar._

_It was me who put G.U.N. behind our backs._

_I was the one who gave our position with that stupid satellite._

_It was all me._

_I'm not the hero._

_"Tails, you're a kid."_

Even Sonic agreed on this.

_I'm just a kid._

"That's true!" Cream nodded, making it worse. "It was all your fault. Thank you!"

With his head hung low, it took him a while to register what she was saying.

"'Thank you'?" He raised his head, frowning.

"Yeah! It was the coolest week we ever had!"

_"We made a new friend, you learned to feel instead of thinking, we recorded a lot of songs, sent a message to the whoooooole universe… I can make a wish to a real shooting star! And it's all your fault!"_

She stood up from her own chair and hugged him strongly by the waist.

"Thank you, Tails."

The fox stood still with wide eyes for a few seconds, smiled and hugged her back. Then, he gently pulled her away, holding the girl by the shoulders to face her properly.

"It really was quite an adventure, wasn't it? Your mother's going to kill me."

"She'll kill me first. Then, she'll go after both of you. I'm more scared at her than Shadow."

"Yeah, me too. Well, what can we do?" He shrugged. "To the rest of the world, we're just..."

His eyes went huge and Tails suddenly hushed, looking like a statue, glazing at nowhere. She shook her hand in front of him.

"Tails? Oy! Are you ok?"

 _"Kids."_ His voice was nothing but a whisper.

"Eh? What are you..." Tails shut her mouth with his hand, putting a finger in front of his own lips. He smiled as he had just received an early Christmas gift.

"Trust me." His voice was so low that Cream had to read his lips to understand what he was saying. Still confused, she nodded silently. He winked with a side grin, and it was impossible for the little bunny not to see Sonic in him at that moment.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, a little more "look-I-made-a-reference-to-the-other-fic" explanation: On Bonfire, Shadow fights alongside Sonic and Tails. That's what he's reffering to. Also, Tails gains a little respect from Shadow because of some events that happened there. If you have any questions, don't be afraid to ask! I should have rewritten this thing so it wouldn't refer to another fanfiction, but oh well, I like to connect stories.
> 
> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WR7U7_cKJw4


	12. Plan D

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> DISCLAIMER: No human agents were harmed during the filming of this fanfiction.

"So, you pass all of the GUN's exams with the highest grades, and they put you as a baby sitter."

"You're the one who soothed the girl. It was your choice."

"The poor thing couldn't stop crying, geez. A bunch of armed soldiers around her. And you, what did you do to win the baby sitter situation?"

"I was the last one in the battalion's line."

"Good."

Both of the soldiers guarding the door were chatting, bored to hell, leaning on the corridor's wall. One of them was the big woman that soothed Cream when she appeared at the park. The other was from the technology team - he was sent on the fielt to monitor the force field's activity. He was a short and chubby man, with a small moustache below his nose and black hair that ended on a tuft on his head. It was probably the most useless vigilance they had to do in all of their lives - what could two little kids do, after all?

"HELP! PLEASE! MY FRIEND ISN'T FEELING WELL!" Both heard a series of thumps coming from the metal door, making a huge noise in the corridor.

_What's that all about?_

"AAAAAAAAAH!" The little girl was crying loudly. It was heartbreaking. The soldiers looked at the door, confused.

"What now?”

"Agent Rouge told us not to open this door until agent Molotov came back with the phone." It was hard to speak with all this noise. The woman raised her eyebrows so high they disappeared below her curly bangs.

"Oh, for the love of God. It's just a little girl." She pulled a keychain from her belt. "Go get a medic, I'll calm her down."

"But..."

"Go! The sooner we solve this mess, the better." The man nodded and ran west from the corridor, disappearing in a turn. Finally finding the right key, she opened the door.

There was no one in the room.

"What the..."

She went through the door. Where the hell were those kids? She couldn't hear anything beside the smooth sound of propellers. There was probably a defective fan inside the air duct.

"What kind of dumb joke is this?" The woman closed the door behind her, to prevent the kids from running away. Then, she took a step forward.

She felt an excruciating pain on top of her head, and everything went dark.

 

\----------------------------------------------------

 

_"Tails, you're a kid. That doesn't take away any of your skills, but you don't need to act like an adult all the time."_

Sonic was right. He could act more like the kid he really was. Maybe it could even save him, one day.

"Do you think we hurt her too much?" Cream slowly got closer to the unconscious woman, her hands hiding her mouth. "She helped me at the park. I didn't want to hurt her.”

"She's breathing, Cream." Tails analysed the woman's head, worryingly. _I hope it just formed a bump on her head_ , he thought, glancing at the metal chair he had thrown at her.

But they didn't have time for this. They had to get out of there. He searched for her pockets, hoping she didn't wake up. Ignoring the gun, he found a black walkie-talkie, like the one Rouge used in the park, and put it on his own belt.

"Ok, here's the plan." Tails took his friend by the hand and they left the room, running through the corridor. "You'll leave this base and contact Sonic. Ask him to take you to your home." Still running, he took off his own comunicator from the wrist and gave it to Cheese, who tied it around his tiny body, like a weird belt. "Can you do that?"

"What about you?"

"I'll find Ristar and send him back to space."

"But they closed the sky!"

"And I'll open it."

"Tails, you can't stay behind again." She halted in the middle of the corridor and pulled his hand, making him stop.

"Cream, I need to do this! We can't leave Ristar here, can we?"

"No, but I won't escape while you do all the work! Tell me what to do."

Before he could answer, both heard footsteps coming from the other side. He gulped and looked around, thinking. They could risk going forward, but that was GUN's base of operations, and was probably crowded with soldiers everywhere - sooner or later, they'd bump on someone.

He looked up and saw an air duct.

"Right. Ok. Plan B, then."

"I think we're on plan D already."

 _Look at you, all sassy_ , Tails thought, making a face at her. He floated to the duct and pulled a screwdriver from his belt (once again underestimating Tails as a kid, nobody bothered to take his few belongings), opening the bars and waving at Cream to follow him. She nodded and flapped her ears, going inside the duct. The steps were closer. _They probably already found the woman in the room_ , he thought, feeling a stingn of remorse. Tails entered backwards, the bars still in his hands, and fit them on the wall, holding firmly so they wouldn't fall on the ground below. Both waited in heavy silence, barely daring to breathe.

"They must have gotten help from the outside!"

"The cameras didn't catch anything, nor anyone, entering the base. They escaped by themselves."

"They're kids, Miguel. They _didn't escape_ by themselves."

The boy looked at Cream, grinning widely. It was working.

The agents below them went their way, still arguing. Tails decided to wait until the footsteps disappeared completely before moving forward.

But hazard never rests, at least not for the ones who challenge it constantly. The boy's gloves were too smooth to hold the bars for so long without slipping between his fingers. Tails saw the object falling, like in slow motion, and hitting the ground with a rattle that probably woke the whole city kilometers from there.

"Cream, LET'S GO!" He pushed her forward and both crawled through the air duct as fast as they could, with Cheese floating above them. Tails wished he was the same size as the Chao - both would escape easily if that was the case.

They kept crawling fast, changing directions all the time to misguide their pursuers, making noise in one place and silence in the other to confound them. As they went through a bifurcation, Tails' heart almost got out through his mouth: with a lightning sound followed by boiling metal, a green light spear passed centimeters from his nose. He halted, breathing heavily, and turned to Cream, pointing back to the bifurcation. She nodded and went backwards, going for the right path, but Tails, being bigger than her, made a little bit of noise.

A second spear went through the other side, trapping him in a piece of the duct, which jolted dangerously. He stood still, praying for the duct not to fall, then remember that from where a second spear came, a third one would probably follow.

The piece of duct finally fell down, reeky and empty. After dropping its debris with his feet, Tails went through the remaining passage, opposite to the direction Cream went, taking advantage of the wider duct and gathering speed with his tails.

Three new spears hit the duct, following the propeller noise, until it hit a bar in front of Tails and he lost balance, falling on the room right below a bunch of boxes.

Feeling dizzy, he stood up. It was a huge warehouse, filled with boxes and colored containers, that went for several meters. There were two big gates, one of each side, and Tails was right in the middle.

To add it up, he knew those attacks that destroyed the air duct too well, and didn't feel brave enough to run towards any of the doors - not with so many chaos spears ready to hit his head.

 

\--------------

 

"I warned the soldiers to not underestimate you, but I guess it was in vain."

He heard a soft noise coming from the right. A light spear immediately appeared on his hands and hit a pile of wooden boxes. Barbs, styrofoam and shredded uniforms went flying through the shed. A quick look revealed that the noise was nothing but false alarm.

He walked like a cat through the hangar, clearing his senses. A shadow close to the green container. He teleported right there.

Nothing but a small bullet. Turning on his heels, he saw a big box with no lid, full of bullet cartridges. He let out one of his short, full of disdain laughs.

_The kid's toying with me. Very well. Two can play this game._

Shadow stepped slowly between the debris, still paying attention to any sounds. He heard another chink hit the red container, far away. He teleported again, appearing on the same place he was.

Finally, he saw a pair of tails behind boxes running to the other side, guided by the noise of Shadow's powers. He threw another spear right in front of the kid, blowing up a big box full of bullet proof vests, and heard a scared "Argh!". Shadow wasn't trying to hurt him - he was only a civilian - but he had to scare the kid enough so he'd give up on whatever he was trying to do. _If he's a little bit smarter than his brother, he'll get out of the way. I know he's not stupid._

The misguiding sounds had stopped. The boy was thinking about another strategy. _On the contrary. He's too smart._

It was time for Shadow to think about another strategy, too.

 

\------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

"I have to say I respect you. Honest. You're really brave for such a young kid, and showed that more than once in the past. It's hard to find individuals like you."

 _Brave? How?_ Thought Tails, more angry at himself than at Shadow. He was hidden behind a container, closer to the left door, his heart pounding nonstop on his chest. It was fear, what he really felt. Fear. Maybe a little bit irrational, but still very, very real. Shadow was unpredictable. Tails could never know what to think of him.

_Sonic is the only one who can deal with that guy. What can I do? No engineering expertise can get me out of this._

Tails heard another box exploding somewhere, and feared Shadow would end up hitting something flammable, or explosive. _I can't get caught, I can't get caught, I can't get caught,_ he thought, his muscles so tense he could feel his neck starting to ache. Tails doubted he could have another chance to escape an interrogation room again - the soldiers would be more careful, always keeping an eye on him. He had to flee _now_ , or else it was over.

"Well, coexistence has an influence on everyone… I think it'd be impossible for you, to grow up like a coward."

What was all that chit-chat about, anyway? What was he trying to do?

The footsteps ceased. Tails put a hand on his mouth, covering the sound of his own breath.

"Agent Shadow. Yes."

He was speaking on the communicator. Tails dared a look out of his hideout.

Shadow was really close, but with his back facing the kid, the walkie-talkie on his hand.

"The girl? Good. Keep an eye on her. I'm coming back."

_The girl._

They got Cream again.

_I need to get out of here._

With cat steps, Tails turned to the other side of the container, deciding to take the longer route and reach the gate on the right side. In his hurry, the fox tripped slightly and his shoes squeaked on the plain floor.

Shadow appeared right in front of him.

Not daring to think, Tails threw one of the smaller boxes towards the hedgehog, making him lose balance when it hit his knees. Spinning his two tails, the boy  shot forward…

And received a kick for the second time on that evening, right at the side of his body, hitting a container door. Dizzy and sore, he stood up, leaning his hand on the object. He could feel his heart pounding on his throat - Tails knew Shadow was being _nice_ to him, or else he'd already be done.

"I don't want to hurt you." The hedgehog walked calmly to the boy. "But I can't allow you to keep doing this."

"He just wants to find his father!" Tails tried to shout, breathless due to the impact.

"And what do you think the 'father' is going to do once he finds out about us?"

"Maybe nothing, if we stop treating his son like a prisioner!"

"Out of the question. He stays here. And you, too."

Tails frowned, feeling his blood boiling at each second. His brain had filled the gaps easily - Shadow's unusual chit-chat, the mental game he made with the chaos spears while trying to trap Tails. _He was just manipulating me this whole time._

"You guys didn't find Cream, did you? It was just a ploy to catch me."

Shadow smiled.

"You're too smart for your own good."

"My communicator didn't chirp." Tails shrugged, putting a hand own the walkie-talkie tied on his belt. Now that he was finally face-to-face with his pursuer, a wild, unusual nerve took place of the neverending fear. "And you don't chit chat. I was naive."

Shadow nodded, then raised a hand to grab Tails' arm. But he never got a hold on the boy. It was like the wind hit him so fiercely he sank on the other container's door. Dazzled, Tails saw the "wind" land on his feet, right in front of him, holding the boy's backpack on his gloved hand.

"I swear to God if I find one scratch on him, _one_ , I'll send you to Jupiter on the next strike, Shadow."

"Sonic, you're alright!"

"I'm PISSED! You're worse than a viper!" Sonic yelled, pointing to his rival and walking towards him with wide and harsh steps. "You drew me away on purpose to attack my brother _and_ my friend? They're children!"

“Actually” The other responded with venom in his tone. “That was Rouge.”

Then, he teleported right beside Sonic, aiming a kick right on the side of his head. It missed, but only because Sonic had great reflexes - otherwise, that single kick would be the end of that fight.

“Tails!” Sonic threw the backpack to the boy and avoided a chaos spear while speaking. “Shouldn’t you be somewhere else?”

_Asking people help doesn't mean you're incompetent._

Tails grabbed the bag in the air, nodded to Sonic and ran. It hurt to leave him behind - it seemed like the universe was making an extra effort to prevent them from working together - but if he intended to free Ristar, Tails would need all the help he could get.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> JESUS CHRIST THIS CHAPTER IS LONG and also confusing. Sorry!
> 
> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ncnMzBxP9x4


	13. No Holds Barred Beatdown

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I thank TV Tropes for giving me the perfect chapter name.

“I could swear you were going to appear earlier.”

Shadow tried a punch on his adversary, more to test his reflexes; he knew he wouldn’t hit him, anyway.

“I was dying to enter feet first in your van” Sonic answered, jumping away and landing on a pile of wooden boxes. The punch hit a big metal chest instead, making a huge dent on its surface. “But road safety comes first, right? Besides…”

He went down quickly to land his feet on Shadow’s head, who rolled to the side, avoiding it easily.

“I couldn’t ruin our element of surprise.”

“There’s no surprise in you saving the kid, Sonic.”

Sonic responded with a spindash, trying to hit him. Shadow jumped over his rival and kicked him like a soccer ball. With a grunt, the hedgehog bumped on another container’s door, upside down.

_I need to stop the boy._

Deviating his attention from Sonic, Shadow ran towards the door Tails used to leave, giving orders from his own communicator.

“Attention, we have a prisioner locked on Warehouse 4C, code blue, I need reinforcements immedia…”

The communicator went sliding on the floor when Shadow was knocked down, laying on his stomach. He heard the response coming from the walkie-talkie, but it was too far for him to understand what was said. He felt a gloved hand pin his head on the ground, a knee on his back and his blood boiled in anger.

“If there’s no surprise, then how did I catch you red-handed, huh? Mister I’m-A-Government-Agent-And-Know-Everything?

“Get off me.”

“After Tails gets a good head start, then yes, I’ll get off you.”

Feeling his blood almost burning, Shadow grabbed the emerald from the bag and teleported; both stopped in the air, and he kicked his rival with all his strenght towards the floor, teleporting again right beside the door he had entered.

“Chaos Control’s not fair play!” Sonic screamed, his voice muffled due to his face stuffed on the ground.

“Shut up, Sonic.” He closed it with a push of a button, then went to where his communicator was before.

It wasn’t there.

“Are you looking for this?”

Sonic had recovered quickly, sitting on top of a container the exact color as him, his crossed legs hanging from the edge of the huge box, spinning the device on one hand. Shadow snorted.

“You’re so immature. Keep it. You’ll need a distraction until the soldiers come to get you.”

“Oh yeah, I will.” He cleared his throat and pressed the single button on the side of the walkie-talkie. “Attention, prisioner escaped from warehouse 4C, he’s going to the loading gate, block the passage, over.”

Shadow halted, halfway towards the only exit, then turned his head slowly to Sonic, with wide eyes, gaping. Sonic had mimicked his own voice so perfectly that even Shadow couldn’t believe it.

“Understood, agent Shadow, over.” The communicator sizzled in response. Sonic put the other hand over his mouth, holding a laugh upon seeing Shadow’s reaction.

“I’ve been training this one for weeks now. One day I almost gave Amy a heart attack because of that.”

Before Shadow could react, Sonic ran to the opened door and pressed the button, locking both inside the warehouse.

“Just the two of us, Shads, like old times!” Sonic threw the walkie-talkie through the window and opened his arms, like waiting for a hug.

What he received _wasn’t_ a hug. The punch was enough to throw him on the wall, and Sonic felt the air leave his lungs entirely. Thinking fast, he crouched upon Shadow’s reappearence with another punch ready, and took him by surprise with a second spindash, hitting his stomach.

The fight went on, faster and faster each second - it was impossible to see any of them. Shadow teleported constantly, trying to hit Sonic in the back, and Sonic reacted with unbelievable reflexes, doing justice to his own name. Boxes flew eveywhere, destroying the rest of the cargo, but none of them cared much. Sonic seemed to be toying with him - laughing, avoiding blows in the last second, doing wide movements just to show off. It made Shadow mad.

_Enough._

Avoiding a devious punch from the rival, Shadow hit his abdomen with an elbow, taking him by surprise. Before Sonic could react, he grabbed him by the face and launched the hedgehog against the few untouched boxes remaining. A bunch of small, black cylindrical objects scattered through the floor when one of the boxes opened up. While Sonic struggled to not trip on the cylinders, Shadow created another of his chaos spears with a hand and raised his arm, aiming right at his rival.

Getting off the ground and feeling dizzy, Sonic looked at the floor full of stuff, then faced Shadow with wide eyes.

"Shadow, NO!"

Misunderstanding Sonic ( _don't you dare ask me for mercy now, you coward_ ), Shadow shot the spear, determined to end that unnecessary fight once and for all.

To his surprise, however, Sonic didn't jump away, but towards him, grabbing his waist. While both collided, Shadow understood the other's reaction, a split second before the spear hit the boxes and made everything explode.

 

\-----------------------

 

One of the soldiers responsible to watch the base's gate suddenly woke up from a sneaky nap, pointing his baton like he had a rifle instead.

"FREEZE!" Still sleepy, he looked around, panting, his heart still pounding. Did he just dream with the noise?

If he looked behind, it would be easy to see the smoke going out of the warehouse, with the windows reflecting the fire lights. But he didn't bother looking.

 

\-----------------------

It was a miracle to see the storage still standing.

Actually, no, it wasn't: the base's structures were all made to handle big explosions and impacts. Not only were those headquarters responsible for guns and uniforms storage, it also had...Unusual… Prisioners. So everything had to be resistant. What if some ammunition ended up exploding by accident, right?

Shadow sat down, moving away the wooden boards on top of him. His ear buzzed loudly, and he felt slight burns on his arms and legs, not to mention the huge pain on his back. Confused, he looked around.

Part of the building was completely burnt, with the rests of wooden boxes lit on fire everywhere. He could see debris even on the roof's structure, so strong was the explosion he caused. Hearing a pained grunt right behind him, Shadow turned his head and saw more broken boards moving slightly, with a burnt and tattered glove raising out of them. He stood still for a moment, letting the gears on his head work out the situation, then hurried to take out the debris from Sonic.

"Are you ok?" He asked, reaching out his hand to help Sonic get up. _Maybe_ he went too far. Just maybe.

"Ahhh, _now_ you're worried, you son of a..." Although irritated, Sonic accepted Shadow's help, grabbing his hand and getting out of the board pile that covered him. Having received most of the explosion's impact while pushing Shadow out of the way, Sonic looked terrible. Tufts of burnt fur showed up here and there, and his shoe's soles were almost falling off. His gloves were completely ruined - Shadow could see his fingers through them.

"You look like you were ran over by a herd of explosive elephants." Commented Shadow in a monotone voice.

"I just saved your life!" Sonic retorted, not believing what he just heard. "There were grenades inside those boxes, you dumbass. Seriously, why do we have to almost kill each other everytime? Can't we hang out to, I don't know, play Monopoly for once? Does it always have to be a No-Holds-Barred-Beatdown?"

Shadow took a step away to look better at him. Sonic wasn't seriously injured, but he surely wasn't in condition to keep fighting, and wouldn't be in his way any longer. Shadow observed while he sat on one of the metal chests, panting a little and wiping his forehead with the back of his hand. Then, he moved towards the door, leaving the blue hedgehog behind. Shadow could hear the sound of footsteps getting closer on the other side, probably attracted by the explosion.

"He's just a kid, Shadow!"

"Your brother knew pretty well in what he was getting into." Shadow replied loudly, not looking back.

"I ain't talking about Tails."

Shadow didn't answer.

"He's different, yeah." Sonic continued, almost screaming so Shadow could hear him from the other side of the room. "He came from another planet, it's big, doesn't speak our language, has his own glow… But he's just a kid. He's cornered, afraid, and being treated like a monster. Wouldn't you be scared too if you were a kid surrounded by armored soldiers?

Shadow stopped halfway, still like a statue. His mind could recreate those memories perfectly, even down to the smells and sounds - the hurried footstep on the metal floor, the automatic doors opening and closing, the sirens, the smell of blood, the _shot_ …

He turned to Sonic. He hadn't moved an inch - still sitting on the chest, he held his right arm, probably feeling some pain - but glared at Shadow with a serious expression, with no sight of the bright smile that almost never left his face. Shadow was certain that Sonic wasn't trying to get to him with those words - at the least, not the way he did - but goddamit did he hit the target.

Because Shadow did feel scared.

Both stared at each other in silence. At last, Shadow sighed, shaking his head and looking down, to the floor. He walked calmly towards the door and pressed the button, opening it. But he didn't leave the warehouse. He just stood there, waiting, looking at Sonic. The blue hedghehog looked back at him, gaping, not leaving his place.

"Just go." Shadow pointed at the door with his head. "Before I change my mind."

Sonic stood still for one more second, then got up and ran to the exit. Before leaving the storage, however, he stared at his friend's red, serious eyes once more.

"I'll never understand you, Shads."

"You're welcome."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Writing interactions between Shadow and Sonic gives me LIFE
> 
> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VzpWJx3I2DY


	14. Supernova

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We can start playing a game called "is it a chapter name or a Muse song?" by now.

Cream moved away from the spear sounds, scared, making a turn on the air duct, and only stopped when she was far away from where they were attacked.

"Oh dear, Tails, that scared me… I… Tails?"

The childish voice echoed through the metallic walls, but no answer was heard. Tails hadn't followed the girl. He was left behind. Her heart raced. Immediately, Cream turned around and went back to help her friend.

When she got where they were separated, Cream found a hole in the air duct. Below, she could see a warehouse full of boxes, containers and…

She retreated, gasping loudly.

Cream feared Shadow. He didn't smile, was always too serious, and Sonic would always come back all injured after they met. It was also because of him that Ristar's light went out, and it was under his orders that they were taken to that huge, gray place. She knew he wasn't evil - but he wasn't nice, either.

"What are we going to do, Cheese?" Cream whispered, hugging her Chao.

She couldn't leave Tails alone with him!

But what could she do? Jump on his head? Kick and bite? Just the thought of it made her neck fur stand on end. No, she couldn't go down there - it'd only make Tails' situation worse. By himself, he could run and hide, and wouldn't waste time worrying about her.

She held the Chao strongly, then released him, startled, when a loud sizzle came out of him.

"Cheese, sorry! Did I hurt you?"

The creature whistled in confusion, floating in front of her, holding the weird belt that Tails put on him.

The communicator.

Her eyes lit up. She could help.

Going back from where she came, Cream moved away from the warehouse enough so Shadow couldn't hear her. Then, she paid attention to other sounds - Cream didn't want to be found by other soldiers. At last, when she was sure everything was safe, the bunny took the communicator from Cheese and tried tying it up on her own wrist. She gave up after realizing her arms were too thin for the device. She just held it in her hand instead, trying to figure out how it worked.

It had only three buttons: two arrows pointing to opposite sides and a silver button on the communicator's side. A small screen indicated the name of the person who she wanted to talk to. It was pretty simple, maybe the simplest object Tails had ever built in his life.

Thank God.

The screen showed the only name she needed: _Sonic_.

Cream pressed the side button. The sizzle she heard upon hugging Cheese came back, echoing on the air duct. Startled, she released the button and stood in silence, paying attention to any sound below her.

Suddenly, the communicator when on by itself.

_"Tails?"_

It was him. It was him!

"Sonic! Sonic, I need..." She stopped talking and pressed the button again, then kept going. "Sonic, we need help!"

 _"Cream?! Are you ok? Where's Tails?"_ She could notice the urgency coming from his voice.

"Alone! Shadow!" Cream was having a hard time organizing her thoughts - reminding herself about Tails made her panic. "He's in danger!"

_"Calm down, Cream! Who's in danger? Shadow?"_

"No, Tails! Sonic, I don't know what to do..." She felt her eyes burn in tears.

 _"Cream, stay calm..."_ His tone was more gentle this time, and she got quiet. _"Breathe. Are you safe? Are you hidden?"_

"I-I am."

_"Good. You're doing fine. Now tell me, and stay calm, where's Tails and what happened."_

"We were crawling on the air ducts and… The duct in front of us melted, he told me to go back..."

She quickly told him everything that happened, and how they got separated.

_"How did the room looked like?"_

"It had a lot of boxes, and was really bright..."

_"Right. Cream, stay hidden, ok? You're doing great, you're doing the right things. If something happens, call me right away, right?"_

"O...Okay."

The communicator got silent. Cream almost called him right away; not because something happened, but at least she wouldn't feel so alone. Adjusting her posture on the air duct, she sat down with her back leaning on the wall, hugging her legs and putting her chin on the knees. Cheese landed on her head, as a comforting weight.

"Do you think Tails is alright, Cheese?"

He whistled quietly in return. She sighed. _I wish I could do more. I'm useless here._

_Tum. Tum. Tum._

Cream raised her head, frowning.

"What's that noise?"

_Tum. Tum. Tum._

It was a rhythmic sound, like a drum. It sounded pretty far away, but loud enough so that Cream could hear between the tight metal walls.

_Tum. Tum. Tum._

It was too familiar.

_Tum. Tum. Tum._

It was calling for her...

_Cream, stay hidden, ok?_

She couldn't leave her hiding place; Cream promised Sonic that she'd stay hidden.

_Tum. Tum. Tum._

Why was that noise so familiar to her?

_Tum. Tum. Tum._

“It’s… It’s Ristar!” She yelled, going back to crawling in the duct towards the sound. She chose her way, guided by the heart-pounding noise at each turn. She knew that “voice” like no other. It could only be him.

The passage got darker and darker as she advanced, and the sound, deafening. Her chest ached, even though she was excited to see her friend again. _Ristar must be scared. They must be doing something with him!_

Cream hurried, determined to help her friend.

The path got so, so dark, that she had to stop. Squinting her eyes, trying to see something, _anything_ , Cream spotted a square of light right ahead. Carefully, fumbling around, she crawled to the light spot.

It was one of those bars that led to the rooms and corridors below the air duct. The light inside that one was so strong that it was impossible to look directly at it - Cream kept her sight on the metallic wall, keeping the light on her peripherical vision.

_TUM. TUM. TUM._

That light was Ristar.

It had to be.

She felt the drums rumbling at the same rhythm of her heart.

He needed help.

He begged for it.

Cream pulled the bars with all her might, but they didn’t move. She spent some time fighting against the miniature gate, pulling and pushing, but she was too small and fragile, and there were no tools she could use to unscrew the corners of the bars.

Noticing the girl’s effort, Cheese took some distance and tackled the bars with his own head, one, two, three times.

“Cheese, no!” On the fourth time, the bars loosened and fell with a rattle on the room’s floor. Hugging the Chao and rubbing his little head, Cream looked down, her eyes still squinted to protect them from the light.

_TUM! TUM! TUM!_

Was it safe?

_Of course it is. Ristar would never hurt anyone._

He needed help, and she was there. What type of friend would Cream be if she wasn’t brave enough?

She jumped.

\-----------------------------------

While running, Tails evaluated what useful things he had on his bag. He found his good old tablet, a screwdriver, a swiss army knife, a crowbar and an old compass, that didn’t have any reason to be there. It was enough. It had to be.

_Ok, I have to deactivate the force field first._

He suddenly halted, thinking furiously. Where was the control panel?

Well, it surely wasn’t in the cargo section of the base. He had to find the technology section. Walking silently through the corridors, Tails saw a group of soldiers going west to the building. _I need to find the exit._ He followed them from a distance, hoping they’d take him outside - once there, he’d have more room to do his searching. Maybe he’d even have a chance to hover above the base and have a better look....

Luck, being a little tired from making a fool of him all the time, stood in Tails’ side for a while. The soldiers were going to a huge parking lot, full of trucks, cars and motorcycles. Tails even spotted the wings of a jet right on the outside. Running through the vehicles, taking care not to be seen by any unwanted driver, he crawled to the courtyard.

It was the first time he was in open air after hours locked inside the base. That alone was enough to improve his humor and give him more conviction for what he had to do.

Just one look at the base’s walls and the amount of cameras told him that hovering above the buildings was out of the picture; he had to walk by the shadows and remain as undetected as possible. He stepped close to the walls and gates, never staying for too long in the same place, and avoided lights that could announce his position.

_If I was a technological base, where would I put the most important section?_

In the center. Of course.

Pulling his backpack, Tails fumbled through his tools until finding the compass. _Who could guess that I’d be using this?_ Apparently, he was close to the south gate - Tails started moving towards north, at least to better position himself.

The boy walked slowly, hiding on the shadows everytime he saw a soldier, or merely a movement on his peripherical vision. When he finally went around a small building, Tails hallted, gaping widely.

It was a huge, cylindrical tower, completely different from the rest of the base, but strangely familiar. _It looks like the observatory_ , Tails noted, approaching carefully. _But a lot bigger._

_Tum. Tum. Tum._

For a moment, the boy thought that the hammering that rumbled on his ears was just the sound of his heart reacting to a stressfull situation, when he noticed that it didn’t come from inside him; it reverberated through his bones, vibrating.

_Tum. Tum. Tum._

It was more than a drum. It was a voice. And called for him.

 _Ristar_ , concluded the boy.

It came from inside the tower. Tails gulped. The tower was the most well guarded building from the entire base; it was surrounded by agents and cameras. The small windows were bright, but as they reached the top, it got darker and darker, until the last floor, where it had no light.

How was he going to enter?

As if answering his question, the sound got louder.

_TUM. TUM. TUM._

He felt the same paralyzing fear from before, when Ristar panicked at the park, but curiously, it was a fleeting sensation; like he was just getting a sea bath, and a big wave hit his body for a moment. The same didn’t happen with the agents that guarded the tower, however; the officials kept submerged on that sea, cringing and losing their control.

_TUM. TUM. TUM._

His heart followed the rhythm.

_He’s calling out to me. That was a cry for help._

Taking opportunity from the agents unnerving distraction, Tails ran to the tower’s door.

He found himself facing a white, long, narrow corridor, with an elevator in its end. The fluorescent lamps blinked and buzzed, as if fighting against some kind of interference. While running, Tails noticed that the defects in the lights also followed the drum’s rhythm.

_TUM. TUM. TUM._

The elevator was activated by a card that Tails didn’t have. Looking around, he found an emergency staircase right beside it, locked. Not thinking twice, the boy pulled the crowbar and stuck it on the portal’s grooves, forcing it until the door opened. _Bingo._

Tails climbed the spiral staircase, alternating between running and floating. Darkness took over the walls as a virus, the more he climbed.

_What’s happening here?_

_TUM! TUM! TUM!_

Tails finally got to the last floor, panting. He could barely see anything; the boy needed to lean on the walls to avoid tripping on the stairs. He reached his hand for the door handle, but before he could even touch it, the fox almost got thrown away when it opened violently, and a group of men and women ran out of the room. The last of them was the only one who noticed Tails’ presence. Grabbing him by the shoulders, he screamed uncontrollably:

“HE'S ALMOST OVER! HE'S ALMOST OVER!”

Then he went down the stairs, almost falling due to the lack of light. Tails stood still, still leaning on the wall, breathing heavily. The end of what? What was he trying to say?

Carefully, fearing what he might find up ahead, he opened the door.

It was a round room, and it took the tower’s whole floor. The middle of the circle was closed by a huge, impenetrable glass window, with a heavy door made of metal right in front of him. There was a control panel circling the glass, full of monitors and shiny buttons. It looked like a test chamber. But it wasn’t what scared him.

The inside of the chamber was completely dark, but at the same time it wasn’t. It was like darkness emmited an aura of light around itself. In the center of this darkness, Tails could see a bright, huge silhouette with five edges. But the eyes. The eyes…

The eyes were white, and empty. The mouth, pulled downwards in a ghostly manner, too.

The fur on Tails’s neck went up.

“R-Ristar?” He approached the glass, feeling his heart almost leaving his throat. “Ristar, can you hear me?”

_Feel, not speak._

Tails tried communicating with him, but it felt like there was a barrier between the two of them. A barrier that had nothing to do with the glass wall in front of him. Frowning, the boy ran to the monitors, looking for one, just one, that was still working. At last he found it, still lit and flickering endlessly, but between blinks he could see what the diagram showed. His heart almost stopped.

_"He's almost over."_

The diagram showed, in a simplified manner, a star's life cycle. Stars could live for thousands of years, but like anything in the universe, they also came to an end.

Stars could reach two different stages at the end of their lives, depending on how they developed during all those years of existence. If their growth resulted into a Red Giant, they turned into Planetary Nebulas, responsible for the release of the heavy metals necessary for the creation of other stars. At last, the remaining core of this reaction was called White Dwarf, an extremely dense body that irradiated its final energy until cooling down.

The second stage happened when the stars turned into Red Supergiants. Those stars, at the end of their lives, exploded, then turned into black holes which sucked every single type of matter that entered their orbits.

That explosion was called Supernova.

Tails looked away from the monitor, facing the ghostly, flickering silhouette at the chamber's center.

He was almost over.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I never thought I'd say that, but writing Cream's POV was just amazing and it turned out to be my favorite parts in the entire fic. She rocks.
> 
> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HzlVOp6UfXk


	15. Contact

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> OHHHHHH TITTLE DROP ISN'T IT AWESOME This chapter was so great to write! I hope you feel the same joy!

Cream didn't understand why everything was so dark. Right before entering the room, she could swear seeing a light so strong that she was barely able to look directly at it. But once inside, everything was pitch black.

The bunny's heart was so clenched that it felt like a hand pressed it strongly on her chest. She felt her eyes widen up, her breath turn shallow and puffy, her hands drip in sweat. She wanted to cry, scream, run, hide. Call for her mom. _"Mom!"_ Yelled a voice inside her head, and she almost complied to it…

No. She had to be brave. That fear wasn't hers. She wasn't afraid. Cream was with a friend, and her friend was the one scared. She had to find him.

She took an hesitant step in the dark, and a bright, golden light seemed to surround her feet. Like it was guiding her. She kept walking, slowly.

"Ristar?"

The sound she heard was like a thousand nails scratching a blackboard, and made her wince. Grabbing Cheese, who wouldn't leave her side, Cream halted, her whole body shaking.

"Ristar?" She called again.

At the center of the room, a pair of eyes and a mouth popped up, and it was the scariest thing Cream had ever seen in her life. It made her neck fur stand on end. _A monster!_ She retreated, and the light below her feet disappeared. The Monster screamed louder, and the nail noise rose up. With her heart in her throat, Cream took a deep breath and took another step. The golden light lit up again. The sound of the Monster went lower.

_I can't run away._

"I-I'm not afraid of you!"

The monster faced her, with those empty eyes and that blurry silhouette.

"I'm looking for my friend, and you can't stop me!" She stepped forward. The golden light expanded a little, making a circle around her. The Monster's shape got more distinct. The little girl felt like she had already seem them somewhere. Another step. The light glowed brightly. The Monster screamed and backed off, seemingly scared.

"That's right! You don't scare me!" Feeling confident, Cream walked firmly towards the creature, her head held high, her heart pounding on her chest. At each step, the light would show the way, strong, warm, comforting. It was the same light Ristar poured from his body. "He knows I'm here, he's with me! And I'm with him! And there is!" She treaded fiercely on the ground, and the light pulsed like an aura in the entire room. "Nothing!" Another strong step, another wave of light. "You! Can! Do!"

She hopped and landed with both feet right in front of the Monster, staring at him. An explosion of light coming from her landing finally revealed where she was. It was a white room, full of broken spotlights, protected by a huge glass wall. She could hear knocking coming from the outside, but Cream ignored it; she only had eyes for the Monster in front of her.

They were Cream's size, completely dark, with legs and arms the same color that ended in claws. Their contour was blurry, like made of scratches, and had white mouth and eyes, which stared threateningly at her. They cringed, leaning on the chamber's wall, hugging their own body and shaking nonstop. The sound of nail scratches came from the bottom of their throat, from inside that five-edged shape…

Cream covered her mouth with her hands, surprised. Slowly, she leaned down to approach the creature, and reached her hand to them.

The unnerving noise stopped abruptly. The room was in total silence; even the knocking on the glass had ceased.

"It's okay..." She whispered softly, looking at the miserable shape. "I won't hurt you. I know you're afraid. I'm scared, too."

"Those people, they don't understand, do they? Because you're different, they're scared of you. This planet had suffered a lot with things that came from the outside; they just want to protect us. But I'm here. You're not alone and neither am I; I'm with you, and you're with me. We're getting out of here, together."

She touched the Monster's claws, smiling.

"We're taking you home, Ristar."

Her contact spread the golden light through his dark fingers. It went towards his arms, legs, face. His whole body glowed in liquid, resplendent light. His silhouette grew. He started pulsing one, two, three times. Then, in a last wave of light, he exploded, enfolding Cream and everything else around him.

 

———————-

 

"Cream, get out of there! It's dangerous!"

Tails knocked tirelessly on the glass, calling for his friend. He could believe what he was seeing: like turning a switch on, Cream's presence eradicated all darkness inside the test chamber. He could see everything. And what he saw was the bunny standing right in front of what seemed to be only a shadow of old Ristar, scared, threatening and ready to explode.

And she was reaching her hand to him.

Tails knew he had to leave the tower immediately - if the diagram in the monitor told him anything, surely the star was ready to reach his last stage. It'd cause a massive explosion and then he'd retract, sucking anything around him.

But how could he leave when his friend was right beside the explosion's core?

Hopeless, Tails stopped knocking at the glass, observing while Cream crouched beside Ristar and whispered softly to him. He couldn't hear what she was saying, but he knew she was doing everything in her reach to help.

He wouldn't leave. Cream was his friend, and his responsability. If he couldn't take her away from danger, might as well stay with her until the end.

Then, right in front of his eyes, the girl's touch made Ristar's silhouette change. He glowed entirely in golden light, stuffed his chest, grew three times his size…

Instinctively, even knowing it wouldn't matter, Tails ran below a desk and closed his eyes, arms on top of his head, a second before the explosion. Glass shards flew everywhere; the metal door that separated both parts of the chamber went flying like it was a mere piece of paper. Tails screamed, not knowing why, and his yells were muffled by a bell so high it made his whole skull vibrate…

At last, the sound stopped. The last shards slided from the control panels and fell on the floor, twinkling. Panting, wondering _how the heck_ was he still alive, Tails stood up, feeling his body shake.

At the chamber's center, was Ristar, with Cream on top of his head, waving to the boy. Cheese floated above them, calmly, as if he always knew what was going to happen.

"Hi, Tails!"

He couldn't move right away; his legs felt like jelly.

"Cr… Cream?"

"Come with us! We're getting out of here!"

The alien smiled at him, ringing, as if nothing had ever happened.

Tails nodded, dumbfounded. A little smile appeared on his face. He started laughing, and laughing, and just _burst_ into laughter, then ran to his friend, hugging and crying, not knowing if he was happy, sad, relieved or scared. But of all of Tails' attempts to communicate with Ristar, that was the first time the alien could perfectly understand what he meant to say. Ristar lifted him gently, putting him on his back beside Cream, then looked up, his face full of determination.

"Hold on, Tails!" The little girl shouted, gripping firmly the edge on top of the alien's head. Tails followed her gesture.

In an explosion of energy, the tower's roof simply desintegrated, and Ristar sizzled upwards, shining through the night like a lighthouse. Looking down, Tails saw all the soldiers that ran to the building look at them, gaping, not knowing what to do. He laughed in awe, the strong wind ripping the laughs out of his throat the moment they dared leaving. He could hear Cream beside him, yelling, overjoyed, and could feel Ristar's constant bell rings vibrating on his bones. It was the most amazing feeling he never felt before.

The star changed his course, leaving the militar base's perimether. While flying, Tails heard a loved and familiar voice, and looked down: a small blue dot running alone, as fast as they were, barefoot, the red shoes in his hands, jumping and throwing his fists on the air, yelling like crazy. Sonic followed their flight right below them until reaching the base's wall, too high even for him to jump. The four friends went on their way until finally landing in a beautiful green hill, with a few trees here and there.

Tails and Cream slided from Ristar's back and laid down, rolling on the grass, laughing, still in awe. Ristar laid down with them, all looking to the sky, feeling the euphoria from the glorious escape they had just made.

"Did you see what he did to the roof?!" Cream asked, shouting, her hands trying to reach the sky.

"I did! It turned to dust!" The boy shouted back, between one laugh and another. "Did you see how Shadow melted the air ducts? He just destroyed them!"

"It was scary! How did you escape?"

"I fought him! Can you believe it?" It was a half-truth: it was more of a hide-and-seek than a fight. But still, for him it was quite a feat.

"I thought he was going to end with you!"

"He did!" Tails laughed with affection at the memory. "I'll certainly feel the kick he gave me tomorrow. But Sonic appeared right on time."

"That's so cool!!!"

"Yeah! And then, I had to crawl through the base by myself, like… Like a spy!"

The girl laughed with him, and Ristar jingled happily, joining the conversation. Tails felt like a little kid, rolling on the grass and playing make-believe.

And what was he, after all?

_"You don't need to act like an adult all the time."_

"I was the one who told Sonic to look for you. I used your watch. Here."

She pulled the object from her pocked and put it on her friend's belly, giving it back. For some reason, the sight of the communicator made Tails' happiness disappear. The boy grabbed the device from his abdomen and looked sadly at it. He was still the engineer. A kid, but the engineer. He still had things to worry about. Suddenly, being the responsible one didn't seem as important anymore. It just seemed like lost time he wanted back.

"I couldn't deactivate GUN's force field." He revealed, sighing. "Ristar can't leave the planet yet."

Cream didn't respond right away, and Ristar kept silent. Cheese leaned his tiny body on Tails' head, as if comforting him.

"We'll find a way, Tails." The girl whispered softly. "We always find a way in the end."

The four of them stood quiet for a while, admiring the starry sky. His head was already working tirelessly, building a plan to deactivate the force field…

"What noise is that?" The little girl suddenly asked. A small sizzle broke their calm silence.

"It's the communicator..."

He raised the watch again, still laid down, and frowned; the object wasn't activated. It took him a while to finally realize where the sound came from.

"It's the walkie-talkie we took from that agent we knocked down!"

Tails stood up, sitting on the grass, and pulled the device from his belt; it was really the sound's source. Holding it in his hand, confused, he got startled upon hearing his own name coming from it:

_"Miles?"_

The voice was deep and familiar, but the tone was so hesitant and shy, so out of place that Tails couldn't hold a small laughter.

"Shadow?" He pressed the button to send the message back. "What do you want?" The boy added, apprehensive. _He could give us a break for once…_

_"Look to the sky."_

The boy frowned in confusion. _Eh?_

"Uhh… Why?" He looked around, looking for signs of helicopters or anything else that could be on their trail.

_"Just look. To the stars."_

Not really understanding it, Tails looked. He gaped.

The slabs that formed the force field glowed and faded in sequence, one by one, like soap bubbles popping right in front of his eyes. He heard Cream yell, excited, and laid on the grass again to appreciate the show.

_"What are you seeing?"_

"The force field… Is fading away."

_"Then it worked."_

Both stood quiet for a moment. Tails didn't know what to say.

"But… Why?" He asked, at last.

 _"It doesn't matter."_ The communicator went silent for a second, and immediately buzzed again. _"Don't tell Sonic."_ The hedgehog added.

"He'd like to know that you have a heart."

_"He knows. I don't want to shove it on his face."_

Tails laughed while pressing the device's button, making sure that the hedgehog had heard him. _Shadow with a sense a humor. I'll never get used to this._

"I won't tell."

_"I don't know if I can prevent GUN from putting you in quarantine."_

"I know."

Tails hushed for a little while, then pressed the button once more.

"Shadow?"

_"Hm."_

"Thank you. For real."

The other didn't answer. But Tails could _swear_ he head a chuckle on the other side.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for any out of character moments, but I wouldn't change this chapter for ANYTHING.
> 
> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uq8Dgcy4MDY


	16. Epilogue: The Babel's Miracle

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1unm0LS10ao
> 
> Cry with me, folks

The star stood tall, on top of the hill, looking at the sky. The other stars glowed with extra intensity, as if they were excited to welcome Ristar back to the huge baby crib that was the universe.

Tails used his own tablet to play the sound they recorded from the antenna; upon hearing the music again, Ristar seemed to know exactly what to do and where to go.

He had a destination. He was going home.

Cream held Cheese close, doing everything she could to not cry, even though tears already flowed freely on her cheeks.

"RISTAR!" She yelled, suddenly.

Her friend turned to look at her one last time.

"I know what to wish for the shooting star!"

He widened his eyes, and Tails felt a slight wave of surprise coming from him. He had finally learned to recognize when the feelings were his and when they were echoes of Ristar.

"I… I wish..." She was struggling to talk between her sobs, but kept going anyway. "I wish f-for you to f-find your d-dad!" She sniffed, holding another sob.

He stood still, surrounded by the grass that rustled gently with the wind, staring at her, then smiled. A single aura of light followed by a gentle jingling came out of him, and it was the biggest one since they found him on the cornfield, dang, even bigger than the explosion at GUN's researching tower. Tails looked beyond the hills and saw the rim expand further and further, going stronger instead of fading away, reaching the city. Maybe it'd enfold the whole world, who knew? It had a wonderful, bittersweet sound, and when it hit the boy, Tails could hear not only the music, but the soothing voice of a child, right on the depths of his mind.

_I will miss you._

Cream finally started crying out loud beside him. Tails wanted to, but he couldn't. He just waved to his friend, and Ristar waved back.

Then, he looked up again, to the stars.

And up he went.

There he went, the shooting star, flying to the sky, so fast and yet taking forever to disappear in the darkness. Because his shine was so intense that, even days after his departure, Tails would still be able to see it, just like he could see all the other stars in the sky, thousands of light-years away from there. Ristar was only a child, but Tails knew very well: he could shine like a supernova.

While observing the trail of light, the boy felt a hand land gently on his back. Sonic was crouching right beside him, all full of scratches, bruises and burns, barefoot, but still smiling, looking up - a sad smile, one that Tails would rarely see, and was probably the only one who saw it at all. Cream had stuffed her face on the hedgehog's chest and sobbed, lacking the courage to watch her friend's departure. Sonic put his arm around her to comfort the little girl and remained that way, not saying anything. Together, the four of them watched the star leaving the atmosphere towards the "coordinates" given by Tails. At last, the trail disappeared, and Ristar was nothing but a shining dot in the sky.

"Let's go." Sonic finally said, taking the bunny on his arms and giving a friendly pat on his brother's shoulder. "Let's go home. Before a certain 'ultimate-form-of-whatever' changes his mind and decides to lock us up again.

"Did you get beaten up by him again?" Tails asked, walking beside him and noticing the many injuries on his body.

" _Me? Beaten up?_ Where did you get this idea?" He made a pained face and adjusted Cream on his arms. "Nah, he asked for mercy. It was too much for him, the poor guy."

"Yeah, right."

"Do you think he's going to be alright?" Cream asked in an almost disappearing voice.

"Shadow? I didn't beat him that hard."

"No… Ristar."

Sonic lowered his eyes at her and smiled.

"Of course he will! He traveled through hundreds of galaxies before finding us. He can handle himself. We just gave him a little push in the right direction, but he's tough. Like you!" He added, putting a finger on her nose and making her chuckle.

"I hope so." Mentioned Tails. "The universe is really big."

"Yeah… Hey, how about a race to the observatory? Who knows, maybe if we're fast enough we can take a last peak before he disappears."

"A race? I'm not sure..." The boy scratched the back of his neck, faking apprehension." I don't want you dealing with two consecutive defeats, y'know?"

"Aren't you a sassy little guy today, huh, kiddo?" He messed up the hair on the top of Tails' head, grinning. "In what dream did you ever win against me?"

"Dunno, you took a beating already, you're carrying weight and everything, I'm at advantage here..."

"I _didn't_ get beaten up." Sonic assured, annoyed. "And weight? You mean Cream?" He gasped dramatically. "She's not weight, she's my lucky charm!" He tickled her, and the little girl let out a jingling laughter, her eyes still wet with tears. "With her and Cheese on my team, I'll run so fast that we'll get _yesterday_ at the observatory!"

"You bet!"

They ran downhill, laughing  and yelling at each other. Missing their friend immensely.

 

\----------------------------------------

 

"Dear Lord, aren't they going to play any song on that radio?"

"Turn off this thing, Tails, I'll play some guitar for us!"

"Wait! I want to hear this!"

_"In other news, the whole planet witnessed an unusual phenomenon! In last thursday's night, abolutely all nations around the world reported having seen a yellow comet beaming through the sky. It disappeared, at last, after passing through South Pole. Some cultures interpreted it like a omen of various significances, from the end of times to luck and fortune. In a report made on social media, NASA named it the ‘Babel’s Miracle’, due to its strange appearence in all of the world’s nations. There are no estimates on the comet’s next visit - but we do hope it’s close, because we already miss it dearly.”_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, here it is! I was so happy to write this one. Ristar is a great charismatic character, and I really wish SEGA gave him a little bit of attention. Do you think he'll find his father? I hope he does. He has Cream's wish in his heart, I'm sure it'll guide him.
> 
> This fic isn't perfect - there's a lot of stuff I'm unhappy with, and I still wish I had rewritten it to not have any relation to the other one. Not because I don't like the other one - I love Bonfire - but I think this story has the potential to be a great standalone. Anyway, I hope you liked it! It was made with love <3
> 
> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GVgMzKMgNxw


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